Oswin Oswald, Time's Guardian
by TimeLordPrime
Summary: Set in the universe of my story War of the Guardians, this series follows the adventures of the now human once again, Oswin Oswald. Oswin now travels through time and space with her friend Marissa Queen aka the Rani as they routinely face impossible odds and terrifying enemies. Oh, and she also leads a group of rebel Daleks in a resistance movement against Skaro in her spare time.
1. Chapter 1

OSWIN OSWALD, TIME'S GUARDIAN

CHAPTER 1

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**This story takes place at the same time as my other titles do and is concurrent with them. The first 60 chapters of War of the Guardians should be read first of course if you want to know the back story of Marissa aka the Rani.**

"YOU WILL SURRENDER TO THE DALEKS, OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" a Dalek said as it cornered 20 year old Molly Hunter in an alley. She had been running for almost an hour now since the Daleks had shown up out of nowhere and had started attacking her entire hometown of Collinstown, a small town in the middle of Kansas. She couldn't run from them anymore. She knew that this was it. She was about to be shot down just like all of the others that she had seen the Daleks kill that day.

Molly closed her eyes and waited for the lethal shot to come. She heard a loud noise and jumped as something exploded nearby. She hadn't been hit herself but obviously something else had been. She dared to open her eyes to see what had happened and saw a beautiful brunette woman standing next to a smoking Dalek with the top of its casing now missing. The woman was smiling at her with a huge grin, and her gauntleted hands were momentarily glowing with energy which then quickly faded away.

"You don't have to worry about that Dalek. It won't be bothering anyone anymore. My new gauntlets are working out pretty well if I do so say myself. They easily pack the same punch as a Dalek gun stick does if not more so," the woman said with a proud look on her face.

Molly started to shake now as the events of the day finally caught up to her. She had been witness to so much death and destruction and had constantly been afraid of dying the entire time since the Daleks had arrived. She started to break down as she slumped against the wall and sat down on the ground hard.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so used to doing this kind of thing every day now that I've forgotten what it's like to experience it for the first time. I shouldn't have been making light of what's happened here today," the woman said with a sympathetic look on her face.

She walked up to Molly and sat down next to her. Molly continued to shake out of control as the woman put a comforting arm around her.

"You're alright now. The Daleks are all dead. I've made sure of that," the woman said in a gentle tone.

"That doesn't bring back all of the people who died or repair all of the death and destruction that they caused," Molly said after a few minutes.

"No, it doesn't. At least they can't hurt anyone else though. I'm so sorry about what happened here. At least it's over now. Do you have anywhere that you can go?" the woman asked her in a kind voice.

"My home was destroyed and my parents are hundreds of miles away from here. No, I don't have anywhere to go. My life is in ruins," Molly said as she began crying.

"You can come with me then and stay with me for a while," the woman offered.

"I don't even know you," Molly said through tears.

"Well, I saved your life. That's a good beginning for any relationship I should think," the woman said with a smile.

Molly actually laughed at that as she said, "What's your name?"

"I'm Oswin. Oswin Oswald. I'm what you might call a professional Dalek hunter. I go wherever they are and exterminate them before they can exterminate us. You might say that I have a personal grudge against the Daleks since they made me a Dalek against my will and stole away my humanity until recently when I was turned back into a human once more. Now I use their own technology against them to stop them from hurting others like they did me. It's a long story. Maybe I'll tell you about it later," Oswin said with a warm smile on her face.

"I'm Molly Hunter. Until today, I had a job working at an insurance office. However, it was destroyed too. I don't even have that anymore," Molly said devastated.

"I'm so sorry, Molly. My offer still stands though. You can come and stay with me until you can get back on your feet again," Oswin said.

"Where are you staying at?" Molly asked.

"It's kind of hard to explain. I'll just have to show you," Oswin said.

She pulled out a communicator and said, "It's finished. Come and get me. I have someone with me who may need somewhere to stay for a while."

"Okay. I'll be there in a minute," said a voice from the communicator.

Seconds later, Molly had to blink twice and wipe her eyes with her hands to make sure that she wasn't seeing things as she saw a large wooden cabinet appear out of thin air. Things got even weirder when the door of the cabinet opened to reveal a huge room on the inside with a large lighted column in the center of it that had panels full of switches and knobs all around it

"This is called a TARDIS. It's a machine for traveling through time and space. This one belongs to my friend, Marissa. I stay here sometimes and with my other friend Rose at other times in her TARDIS. I travel with both of them and help them to stop alien invasions, eliminate serious threats to the Earth or the universe, and help fix any other problems that we might come across anywhere and everywhere throughout time and space. Marissa, do you think that Molly could stay with you a while until she gets back on her feet. Her home and job were just blown up by the Daleks," Oswin asked.

"Of course you can. I know what that's like better than anyone. My family were killed by the Daleks a long time ago," Marissa said with a haunted look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Molly said with sympathy.

"Thank you. I'm sorry for your loss as well," Marissa said.

"I guess it doesn't sound right for me to whine about losing my home and job when there are so many others who died today just like your family did," Molly said.

"Nonsense. Your whole life has just been destroyed. You have a right to be angry about it. You have survivor's guilt, Molly. I know because I had it too. You can't let it eat you up inside though. You've got to continue on with your life the best that you can and move on," Marissa said with a gentle smile.

"Thank you for saying that, and thank you for letting me stay here," Molly said gratefully.

"Don't mention it. There is a price to pay if you want to travel with me and Oswin though," Marissa said.

"What's that?" Molly asked with concern.

"If you travel with us, it means that you'll be constantly running into all kinds of deadly situations and up against all kinds of deadly people. Our line of work is not for the faint of heart," Marissa warned.

"I think after what I just went through today that I'm ready to handle anything," Molly said confidently.

Oswin wanted to laugh at that statement. She didn't think that Molly quite realized what she was getting herself into. She silently promised herself that she would watch over and protect her new friend from all of the dangers to come that lay ahead.

With that having been settled, Molly went off to find herself a room on Marissa's TARDIS. No doubt the TARDIS already had one ready for her designed to her mind's specifications. The TARDIS would have already read her surface thoughts and found out what kinds of things that she liked already in order to prepare a room for her.

"Is it really okay for her to stay? I didn't mean to impose on you. She just seemed so devastated, and my heart went out to her," Oswin asked.

"It's fine, Oswin. I could do with some company sometimes when you and Koschei aren't around. It gets kind of lonely in this old TARDIS by myself. I think that having someone else to talk to will do me a world of good. Plus I finally get myself a companion. I've always wondered what that was like," Marissa said with a grin.

Marissa then dematerialized her TARDIS, and they entered the Vortex to return back to Gallifrey now that the Daleks in Collinstown had already been handled. They hadn't been traveling for long when the TARDIS suddenly materialized all by itself.

"What's going on? Why did it do that?" Oswin asked her worried.

"I have no idea. I have noticed though that my TARDIS has started developing a mind of her own lately ever since she started hanging around the Doctor's TARDIS. I think that his TARDIS must have corrupted mine," Marissa said, half seriously and half tongue in cheek with a large smile on her face.

"So where are we?" Oswin asked.

Marissa checked the console and read what it said their current location was with a shudder.

"What's wrong, Mari?" Oswin asked as she saw her horrified expression.

"We're on Krontep," Marissa said in a shaky voice.

"So?" Oswin asked, confused.

"Peri Brown lives here. She's the Queen of this world," Marissa said.

"Who's she?" Oswin asked, still confused.

"She used to travel with the Doctor once. I encountered her once back when I was still the Rani, and I tried to kill her. I also tried to turn her into a tree. Do you think she might still be mad about that?" Marissa asked with a grimace.

Both of them suddenly heard a loud pounding on the door of the TARDIS; and a voice said, "You have been identified as the Rani. Come out immediately and face the judgment of our Queen."

Both women looked at each other in shock and dismay.

"Could be," Oswin said with a sigh.

**Next: Marissa faces up to her past as she comes face to face with an angry Peri. Can Oswin convince her that Marissa really has changed?**


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

"What do we do? Peri's guards are waiting outside to capture us. Do we go outside or just dematerialize?" Oswin asked.

"My TARDIS is being stubborn. She won't let us leave," Marissa said.

"Then either we stay here for all eternity, or we have to go out there and clear things up with this Peri," Oswin said.

"I tried to turn her into a tree," Marissa reminded her.

"I didn't say that it would be easy," Oswin said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I'll go out there again and face up to this. You don't have to go, Oswin. This is my past not yours," Marissa said.

"You're my friend, Mari. I first met you when you were a scared little girl on Meridian, and I saved you from the Daleks. I saved you then, and I'm not about to let anything happen to you now," Oswin said with her hand on Marissa's shoulder.

"Thank you," Marissa said with a grateful look on her face.

"What about Molly? She doesn't need to be involved in this," Oswin asked.

"I could use Emergency Program One and send her back to Earth," Marissa said.

"We need to do that then. I promised myself that I would keep her safe if she came with me," Oswin said.

"You're not sending me anywhere. I'm coming with you. There's nothing left for me back on Earth now so there's no way that I'm going to let you send me back there," Molly said from behind them.

"What about your parents? You've still got them," Oswin protested.

"I'm going with you," Molly said defiantly.

"What if you get killed? How are your parents going to feel when you never come back? They'll never even know what happened to you," Oswin said as she desperately tried to convince Molly to go home.

"I know that you're trying to keep me safe, and I appreciate that. However, this is my choice. I want to go with you. I don't want to leave you two in the lurch and run like a coward at the first sign of trouble," Molly said stubbornly.

"Peri won't let anything happen to Molly. I'm the one that she's angry at not the two of you," Marissa reassured Oswin.

"All right then. Let's go out there," Oswin said with a deep breath.

The three of them left the TARDIS to be immediately surrounded by several guards with swords. The guards began to immediately herd them away and toward a nearby castle. After a few minutes of traveling, the three of them were ushered inside of the castle and swiftly brought to a throne room with two large thrones in the center of it.

A brunette woman emerged from another room and sat on the throne on the right hand side. One of the men surrounding her said, "All kneel before Queen Peri."

Everyone kneeled before Peri, and the three of them were forced to as well at sword point. Peri was immediately angered by this. This wasn't the way that she treated anybody even the Rani. Molly started to shake from fear even though she was trying her best not to show any of it.

Peri noticed this and immediately felt sorry for Molly. She stepped down from the throne and walked up to Molly with a concerned look on her face.

"Hey, there's no need to be afraid. No one's going to hurt you despite what my guards just did. I didn't tell them to force you to kneel," Peri said to Molly in a tender voice.

Peri turned to the Captain of the guards and said in a voice filled with anger, "I don't appreciate your men forcing these people to kneel to me at the point of a sword. That's not my way of doing things and never has been. Don't let me catch you ever doing that again."

"Yes, my Queen. I'll let the men know that this kind of behavior is not to be tolerated," The Captain said, although his face seemed to show that he disapproved of her attitude towards him and his men.

Peri knew that the Captain didn't like her. He never had because she was from Earth and not a native of Krontep. His attitude had just gotten worse when her husband, King Yrcanos, died and left her as the sole ruler of the planet. Many others did not approve of her being on the throne either because of her being an alien. The problem seemed to be growing worse lately as if someone was stirring things up. She was pretty sure that that someone was the Rani.

Peri studied the three woman before her and wondered which of them was the Rani. She knew that one of them had to be because she had recognized the Rani's TARDIS when it arrived. It was in the same form that it had taken when she last saw the Rani back on Earth during the Industrial Revolution. She was sure that it wasn't the youngest woman. She was so scared that it couldn't just be acting.

Peri turned to the other two women and said, "I'm addressing this to whichever one of you is the Rani. I don't know what you did to that poor girl or what you're doing to turn the people here against me, but it's going to stop right now."

"They didn't do anything to me. Oswin saved me from the Daleks, and Mari took me in when I had nowhere else to go," Molly defended them.

Peri could see that she believed in what she said by the look on her face. She decided to see if she could get the truth from her.

"Which of them is the Rani? I just want her and whoever's been helping her. I'll let you go and make the Rani send you back to Earth where you're obviously from," Peri asked her.

"I don't know. I've never heard of the Rani," Molly said truthfully.

Peri could tell that she wasn't lying. She honestly hadn't been told the whole truth about who she was traveling with so she would be of no further use to her in helping her find out who the Rani was.

"I'm the Rani, Peri. At least I used to be anyway. I'm Marissa now. I've changed. I'm not the same person that I used to be anymore. I know that that's hard to believe, but I have. Let Molly and Oswin go. They haven't done anything," Marissa pleaded.

Peri looked at her in curiosity. This woman seemed to genuinely care about the others. She was nothing like the Rani that she had known. This couldn't be her. It must be the other one. She turned to Oswin and looked at her closely to study her reaction to all of this. She saw that Oswin looked upset and worried for the woman who had just confessed to being the Rani. Oswin didn't act like the Rani either. Maybe none of these women were her.

"None of you are the Rani. Where is she?" Peri demanded.

"I was the Rani, Peri. I'm so sorry about what I did to your friend, Luke. Once I changed, I went back to Redfern Dell to the day after I turned Luke into a tree and had a friend of mine change him back. Luckily he had no memory of ever being a tree, and he went back home with no further damage from the whole thing," Marissa said.

"It is you. Take her away,' Peri ordered the guards.

"No! She's changed. She doesn't deserve this," Oswin shouted.

The guards grabbed Marissa and began to take her to a cell. Oswin was not going to let that happen though. She started powering up her gauntlets and walked threateningly towards the guards.

"Let her go now!" Oswin commanded them.

"Oswin, don't do this. You're just going to make things worse," Marissa warned her.

"Shut up, Mari. I'm not going to let them do this to you. You're not the same person anymore, and you don't deserve this," Oswin said.

"Don't I? I've done many horrible things, all in the name of science. Maybe judgment has finally come to me," Marissa said sadly.

"No. Not if I can help it. You've done so much good, and you could do so much more. Everyone on Earth would be vampires now if it wasn't for you and the cure that you came up with to save them. This isn't going to happen!" Oswin said enraged.

The guards who weren't holding onto Marissa or Molly started to attack Oswin but found that their swords couldn't get through to her. They kept hitting an invisible wall around her. This didn't stop them from trying though. They just kept slashing ineffectively against Oswin's force field.

Oswin began to tire of them and decided to get them all out of this once and for all. She stunned them all with the blasts from her gauntlets, and they all fell to the floor in a heap. Then she stunned the guards holding her friends.

The Captain started rushing towards her with his own sword outstretched. Oswin used her temporal shift abilities that she had taken from Dalek technology to shift herself forward two seconds into the future. He was still searching for her when she suddenly reappeared behind him and tapped him on the back. The Captain whirled around just in time to see her fist heading for his face. She quickly knocked him out with a single punch to the jaw.

Then as she found every guard in the place heading towards her, she decided to use her perception filter to end this once and for all. She made herself appear to be a Dalek and shouted to them, "MOVE BACK, OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"

The guards fled from her in terror, and soon it was just the three of them and Peri left in the throne room. Peri refused to leave. She just stared at them defiantly.

"I'm not afraid of Daleks or fancy tricks with perception filters. I traveled with the Doctor, lady. It's going to take a lot more than that to scare me," Peri said as she stood her ground defiantly.

"I'M TAKING MY FRIENDS OUT OF HERE, AND WE'RE LEAVING," Oswin said, still in the disguise of a Dalek.

"Why are you and the Rani trying to overthrow me?" Peri demanded.

Oswin changed her appearance back to normal and said, "We're not. We have nothing to do with it. We came here by accident. We have nothing to do with anything going on here," Oswin said.

Peri studied her face and the concern for her friends on it. She decided that she believed her that she didn't know anything about the current situation on Krontep. She still didn't believe that the Rani was innocent, but she was convinced that her two friends knew nothing about what she was doing.

"You're backing the wrong horse, Oswin. The Rani is pure evil. If you keep following her, she's going to get you in trouble. Why don't you take Molly with you and leave?" Peri said.

"Never. Not without her going with me," Oswin said.

"I'm not going to let the Rani get away with threatening my daughter, Janine. No one's going to hurt her while I'm around. Do you understand that, Rani?" Peri said furiously.

"I swear that I don't have anything to do with this, Peri," Marissa said with a pained look on her face.

"Yeah, sure, like I'm really supposed to believe you after you almost turned me into a tree!" Peri said with a smirk.

"I don't know what this is all about, but Mari has been nothing but nice to me. I know that she didn't do whatever it is that you're accusing her of," Molly spoke up.

"You've certainly brainwashed these two, haven't you?" Peri said.

A guard came running into the throne room and said, "My queen, your daughter is missing!"

Peri's face instantly changed into one of pure terror as she said, "What? When did this happen? How did it happen?"

"The Princess was playing right in front of the eyes of her nanny when she just vanished. She disappeared right in front of her and several guards. No one knows how it happened or who did it," the guard said.

Peri turned on Marissa and screamed at her, "Where is she? Tell me!"

"I have nothing to do with it. I swear. I'll help you find her though. I promise you that," Marissa said.

"That must be why the TARDIS brought us here: to help save Peri's daughter," Oswin said.

"Maybe it was because my old girl knew that I needed to make up for my past," Marissa said.

"I still don't believe you, Rani, but since you're pretending to be ready to help me, I'll go along with it. Hopefully you'll let something slip that will let me know where to find Janine," Peri said.

"Will you just admit that you're wrong already?" Oswin said as she rolled her eyes.

"I will when I find out that the Rani wasn't behind all of this. When I do, I'll apologize. I'll apologize then and only then. For now, I'm going to use you three to help me find my daughter," Peri said.

"Where should we start?" Oswin asked Marissa.

"I'll need to go back to my TARDIS and see if I can find a trace of alien activity or temporal distortion in the area," Marissa said with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Oh, right, and then you'll just escape in it. You're not going without me, Rani," Peri said.

"If you insist," Marissa said.

She pulled out her remote control and brought the TARDIS to the throne room.

"After you," Marissa said as she opened the door.

The four of them entered the TARDIS, and Marissa soon started trying to see if she could find out what was going on here. She idly wondered if she should call in some reinforcements or at least one in particular. She made a decision and activated a signal to summon help. She breathed a sigh of relief as she quickly got a response back. Koschei was on the way.

**Next: The person behind Peri's troubles is revealed plus Koschei shows up to help. Or does he just make things worse as he immediately starts butting heads with Peri?**


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

Marissa could see familiar energy signatures on her TARDIS instruments. She knew who was behind this now. It was yet another familiar face from her past come back to haunt her.

"What have you gotten me into, old girl?" Marissa asked her TARDIS mournfully.

"You know who they are, don't you?" Peri asked accusingly.

"Yes, I do. I have no idea why they're bothering you though," Marissa said honestly.

"Of course you don't," Peri said.

"Stop it, Peri! Do you want to get your daughter back or not? If you do, then kindly shut up and let me do my best to find her!" Marissa said in a sudden fit of rage.

"It's about time! I was sick of seeing you just put up with it," Oswin said with a grin.

Peri looked furious, but she said nothing more for the moment. She saw that she was starting to awaken the fury of a Time Lord and wisely decided to back down.

Peri went to the side of the TARDIS where Marissa couldn't see her and began to break down. She was trying very hard not to, but she couldn't stop herself.

Oswin felt immediately sympathetic towards her and walked up to her. She put a hand on her shoulder and said, "She really is trying to help you, and she will. She'll get her back for you I promise. She's not the woman that you once knew. She's one of the best people that I know."

"I know that you believe that, but I have trouble trusting her. She does act differently now, but she's a great actress. She manipulates people and gets them to believe her. Then, she pulls the rug out from under you. She once convinced me that she was dying and needed to get a pill to save her life, and then she attacked me," Peri confided in Oswin.

"You'll see, Peri. You'll find out that she's a decent person now," Oswin said confidently.

"I want her back. I want her safe," Peri said as she tried to keep from breaking down again.

"You will get her back. I'll make sure of it. The people behind this are cowards at heart just like all bullies. I'll deal with them in no time," Marissa said in a kind voice as she came up behind them.

Peri turned to look at her in confusion. It really did seem like she had changed and actually cared. She hoped that it was true for Janine's sake.

"Thank you!" Peri said, and then began to completely break down in tears.

Marissa hugged her tightly and let her cry on her shoulder for a while. Oswin couldn't help but smile at this act of compassion. Peri had just been slandering her left and right, but she was still there to comfort her when she needed it. This was Marissa in a nutshell.

They all heard the sound of a TARDIS materializing with its brakes on then. Marissa knew that it was Koschei and immediately ran to meet him.

Oswin had no idea why Marissa liked Koschei so much. She couldn't stand him personally. All he had ever done was make fun of her when she had been a Dalek. The man was just bad news as far as she was concerned. Yet for some reason, Marissa was in love with him. She had decided to hold her tongue about the whole thing and keep out of Marissa's private affairs.

If she ever found out that Koschei had hurt her though, then it would be a different story. Then Oswin would make him very much regret every nasty thing that he had ever said to her. After all, she had access to the Dalek net and could easily instruct them that Koschei was their mortal enemy and that killing him should be given top priority! That would keep him busy for a while! she thought to herself with an evil grin.

The man in question exited his TARDIS and greeted Marissa with a quick kiss on the lips. Marissa smiled widely for the first time that day as she watched him with joy in her eyes.

"So what seems to be the problem, Mari? What is it that you needed to call on the Big Gun to help you solve?" Koschei said with smugness.

"I believe that an old ally of mine from my bad old days has decided to overthrow the Queen of Krontep and install themselves in as the rulers of this planet for some reason. I have no idea why though. They've also kidnapped the Queen's daughter, and we have no idea where she is," Marissa explained.

"The Queen of Krontep? You mean . . ." Koschei said with a look of horror on his face as he realized just who that she was talking about.

"It's you, isn't it? I'd recognize that smug look and that stupid grin anywhere. You're the Master!" Peri accused him as she came out of Marissa's TARDIS.

"I just go by Koschei these days," Koschei said with a grin.

"I don't care what you call yourself now. You're still rotten to the core," Peri said angrily.

"Stop it! He's here to help," Marissa said.

"He's got you fooled then, Mari. All I can see is the same old basking in his own ego that he did the last time that I met him," Peri said.

Marissa almost smiled at her words. She had called her 'Mari', and was talking to her like she believed in her now. She almost seemed as protective towards her about the matter of her relationship with Koschei as Oswin was.

"He's trying to change, Peri. Believe me, he is," Marissa said.

"I believe that you think that he is. I'll reserve judgment on that for myself," Peri said.

Peri then smiled at Marissa as if she were letting her know that she had no hard feeling towards her but only Koschei. Oswin and Marissa both looked at each other with a grin. They were both glad that Peri had finally realized that they were on her side.

A communication then came through on Marissa's console from the instigator of the events on this planet. They all heard a raspy voice say, "Hello, mistress Rani. We know that you're here. How fitting that we now get our chance to gain revenge on you at the same time as we pull off a coup that will finally help us with our planet's food shortages."

"I'm going to stop you, Urak. You're not going to get away with this. Let Peri's daughter go, and I'll go easier on you. Do anything to harm her in any way, and I may be tempted to revisit my old self for a moment and bring some of her old tricks out to play against you," Marissa warned him.

"I'd heard that you'd gotten too soft to do such things anymore," Urak said with a chuckle.

"Hurt the girl, and see what happens," Marissa threatened him with pure concentrated anger in her voice.

Urak actually seemed to have a little fear in his voice now as he said, "Nothing will happen to her if Queen Peri agrees to abdicate the throne to my people, the Tetraps. She should meet us back in her throne room immediately to do so or her daughter dies."

"I'll be there. Just don't hurt her," Peri said.

"Excellent. We shall give you thirty of your minutes to arrive. After that, we kill your daughter! Do you understand?" Urak threatened.

"I understand. I want you to understand this, whoever you are, if you do anything to her; I'll do the same thing to you!" Peri promised him.

"I like you. You have spirit. It will be great doing business with you. Just sign over the planet; and the two of you will be free to go with your new friend, the Rani," Urak said.

Urak signed off right after that. Peri could do nothing but stare at the console in silence. She had no idea what to do except to go along with Urak's plan.

"Who is he?" Oswin asked Marissa.

"He's the leader of a race of bat like aliens called the Tetraps from the planet Tetrapyriarbus. I used them once as hired muscle to help me take over the planet Lakertya. That backfired on me though thanks to the Doctor, and I wound up taken prisoner by them for a while after my plans fell apart. They wanted me to solve their food crisis then too, but I escaped," Marissa explained.

"How will taking over this planet help them with their food problems? What do they eat?" Peri asked.

"Blood plasma, Peri. They want to use the people of Krontep as their new food source," Marissa said darkly.

"I can't sign over the planet to them! I can't allow that to happen," Peri said in horror.

"If you don't though, then your daughter will die," Oswin said.

"That's the problem that we have to solve. How to kick Urak and the others out without getting Janine killed at the same time?" Marissa said in a worried voice.

"Don't worry, Mari. I'll save the day just like I always do. I'm on the job now so there's no need to fear," Koschei said arrogantly.

Marissa groaned as Oswin said, "Why does that not make me feel any better?"

**Next: Peri goes to meet with the Tetraps while Oswin, Mari, and Koschei attempt to come up with a way to save everyone. Also, who is secretly helping the Tetraps and why?**


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Peri walked back to the castle by herself as she prepared to stall as long as she could before she actually signed the planet over to the Tetraps. She hoped that she could buy her two new friends and Koschei enough time to come up with a plan before it was too late.

She reached the throne room as agreed upon and was immediately met by a part bat part boar looking creature that she assumed must be Urak. He kept looking at her with the smile of a predator looking at its prey in anticipation of its coming meal. Peri had to steel herself against the nervousness that she felt creeping through her at the sight of the evil creature leering at her.

"Ah, you must be Queen Peri. I am Urak, the leader of the Tetraps and the future co-ruler of Krontep," Urak said with that evil grin still on his face.

"Co-ruler?" Peri asked.

"Oh, yes. I have reached an agreement with another of this world. He will rule here in my name and take care of all the menial tasks in maintaining it that I have no interest in doing while my people get to partake of some of the resources of your world to solve our food shortage crisis. It's a good deal for both of us," Urak said with a chuckle.

"By resources, you mean drink the blood of the people," Peri said with disgust.

"You've been talking to the mistress Rani. Yes, that is exactly what we want. We will take a small percentage of the people here as food. They will be picked by my new partner. We won't kill them. We will keep them alive and use them as a blood bank. We will allow them time to replenish their blood supply before we use them again," Urak said as if he were being magnanimous to his intended victims.

"That's even worse. You're just keeping them in a permanent state of suffering until they die," Peri said in anger.

"It's either them or your daughter. Take your pick," Urak threatened.

"You're a monster. You're worse than the Rani ever was," Peri said.

"We will agree to differ, Queen Peri. Now, sign the planet over to us or watch your daughter die!" Urak said as he made a signal to some of the other Tetraps.

They brought a shaking, frightened little girl about ten years old out of another room. She seemed to brighten some as she saw her mother, but she was still very afraid.

"It'll be okay, Janine. I'm going to get you out of here," Peri said as she smiled reassuringly at her.

Janine just nodded and said nothing. She was scared stiff. Seeing her usually talkative child act like that made Peri even angrier than she already was. She had to keep reminding herself to keep her cool and not blow the hopefully forthcoming rescue by losing her temper and making things worse.

That struggle was made even harder in the next minute as the traitor in their midst was revealed. Urak smiled at his new partner as the Captain of the Guard appeared and slapped the Tetrap's back in friendship.

"Are you surprised, oh wonderful Queen?" the Captain said with a smirk.

"Not really! I think that someone like you is capable of doing anything," Peri said as her eyes burned holes into him.

"The throne needs to be reclaimed by a real citizen of Krontep. For too long, our planet has been sullied by having a foreigner rule it!" the Captain said with disgust.

"So you make deals with more foreigners to oust the other foreigner? What makes you think that they'll really let you run things here? You'll just be a puppet to them, Captain Orton. You'll be next to nothing. Just food with delusions of grandeur," Peri said to him.

"Lies! We will only leave an occupational force behind to assist Orton with the governing of this world. Most of the major decisions will be made by him," Urak said.

Orton's eyes widened at this information. This was news to him!

"Most of the decisions?" Orton said in irritation.

"Yes, I will have to reserve the ultimate authority and final say in the major matters for myself, of course," Urak said with a wicked grin.

"You never said anything like that before!" Orton protested.

"You never asked," Urak said with glee in his voice.

Peri was enjoying Orton's comeuppance and was glad that this was prolonging matters and buying time, but she was also sickened by how stupid and corrupt that Orton was. With people like him in top positions here, no wonder her rule had been so rough.

If she had had people like Oswin and Mari in charge, her job would have been so much easier, and the whole planet wouldn't have fallen into such a miserable state as it was now. Maybe Yrcanos would still be alive too. He had fallen in battle protecting the planet from an invasion. Maybe with a better trained guard that wouldn't have happened.

The King before Yrcanos had filled the top positions with all kinds of corrupt toadies, and it was now coming back to haunt the whole planet now. Peri felt overwhelmed in trying to run such a disorganized mess of a world. Now that a TARDIS was here, she was very tempted to get in it with her daughter and leave for Earth for good. It seemed that no one here would miss her if she did.

"I refuse to take part in this. I will not hand my planet over to an even worse foreigner than the other one," Orton said in a fury.

"I'm starting to look very good right now, aren't I?" Peri said with a mirthless laugh.

Orton glared at her, and she quickly butted out of the argument. She would just let the two of them go at it without further interruptions and hope that it would buy the others more time to arrive.

As it turned out, she didn't have to wait that much longer. A Dalek army suddenly appeared in the middle of the room and the Tetraps and Krontep soldiers alike ran at them.

"EXTERMINATE THEM! EXTERMINATE!" the Daleks shouted as they opened fire.

With everyone distracted, Oswin slipped into the throne room unnoticed by anyone due to having her perception filter make her appear invisible to the others as long as she brought no attention to herself. She quickly stunned the Tetraps holding Janine with her gauntlets on a silent setting so as to not make any noise.

Oswin quickly made her way to first Janine and then Peri and grabbed ahold of both of their arms. As soon as Oswin touched Janine and Peri, the perception filter started to work on them too; and they became invisible as well.

They slowed began to walk past the Tetraps and soldiers together so as to not be noticed by them. Everything was going well until one of the Tetraps accidentally fell while trying to run, and a 'Dalek' went right through him.

"It's an illusion!" Urak shouted.

The Daleks disappeared to reveal Koschei and Marissa standing there instead. Koschei had been blasting them with his laser screwdriver in the guise of the Daleks. The two of them had anticipated that the Dalek illusion cast by their own perception filter might be seen through and decided to go through with their back-up plan of holding the attention of the others by themselves until Oswin could get Peri and Janine out safely.

"Kill them!" Urak yelled.

"You can try, Bat Boys. You can try!" Koschei taunted them as he began to laugh his maniacal laugh in an attempt to unnerve them with it.

Koschei blasted all of the Tetraps in front at once with the wide beam setting of his screwdriver. Several of them fell unconscious at once, but there were still plenty of them left standing, and they all started to rush at the two Time Lords at once.

Marissa then blasted some dust out of the bracelets on her wrists just before they got to them, and the Tetraps all started to scream in horror as they started to shrink and transform instantly. In a matter of seconds, the Tetraps had all been changed into babies!

Urak had managed to keep away from the dust so he was the only Tetrap unaffected. He looked at his men in horror and pointed a gun at Marissa with shaky hands.

"What have you done to them? Change them back!" Urak demanded.

"Sorry! It's permanent. They'll have to live their lives over again. Maybe they'll do better this time and avoid people like you," Marissa said.

"You haven't won! I'll still take over this world. I just have to get Peri to sign it over to me, and there will be nothing that you can do about it," Urak said.

"Go ahead if you can find her," Marissa said with a smirk.

Urak looked around him frantically and saw no trace of Peri or Janine anywhere. He turned back to Marissa in a furious state.

"You tricked me! You spirited them away while you distracted us," Urak shouted.

"You're a little slow on the uptake, aren't you?" Koschei said as he started laughing at him.

"Neither of you will survive to tell the tale of how you outwitted me. If nothing else, at least I will have killed two Time Lords today," Urak said as he fired two shots at them in rapid succession.

Neither of the shots reached their targets as they both were absorbed by the force field of Oswin, who had suddenly teleported in front of them. Urak fired again and again at her, but her force field absorbed each shot effortlessly as she steadily walked towards him at a slow but steady pace.

"Why don't you fall?" Urak shouted at her in desperation.

Oswin said nothing until she was less than a foot away from him; then she said, "Exterminate!"

She used her perception filter to change her appearance to that of a Dalek; and she said once again, "EXTERMINATE!"

"No! It's just an illusion again like before. I won't fall for it this time," Urak said as he shook in terror.

He fired once again, but the blast had no effect on Oswin's shield. Oswin had had enough of this petty being. She fired a stun blast at Urak and instantly knocked him out cold. Then she turned to face the guards under the command of the Captain.

"DOES ANYONE ELSE QUESTION THE RIGHT OF THE QUEEN TO RULE?" Oswin asked as a Dalek.

"I surrender. I just wanted to protect my planet from alien rule, but I almost handed it over to an even worse alien instead," Orton said as he laid his sword on the ground and lowered his head in shame.

"Was I really that bad?" Peri asked.

"You are not one of us. You have no idea what it's like to be one of us. You don't know anything about the average life of a citizen of Krontep," Orton said.

"I know that none of them wanted to become the food supply of the Tetraps. I'm pretty sure of that," Peri said.

"I went too far. I was too blinded by my zeal to replace you to even see what I was doing. I let my hatred for you turn me into a monster," Orton admitted.

"You mean your blind xenophobic hatred of anyone different from you," Oswin, with her perception filter now turned off, said accusingly.

She knew all too well how people treated those who were different. She had experienced it herself when she was a Dalek, and the Daleks themselves were the ultimate example of such hatred. Such hatred could and often did inspire such horrendous things as Orton was contemplating doing to his own people.

Peri ordered that Orton and all of the guards that had been loyal to him be locked up immediately to await a trial, and then she did something that shocked everyone. She walked up in front of everyone and announced, "I hereby abdicate the throne of Krontep. I'm taking myself and my daughter and leaving here immediately. I feel that I am no longer suited for the leadership of this planet since it seems that so many people here are unhappy with my rule. I ask that you vote for all of your future leaders with democratic elections instead. That way you will get someone who will best represent the will of the people."

"Are you sure about this, Peri?" Oswin asked her.

"Yes, I am, Oz. I just want to go back home to Earth. That is if you guys will take me back after the way that I treated you," Peri said.

"Oz?!" Oswin said with a grimace.

"Of course you can come, Peri. I owe you that much at least," Marissa said.

"Mum, this is my home. I don't even know the Earth. Will I even fit in there?" Janine asked worried.

"Of course you will, sweetheart. You're going to love it there. I'm afraid to stay here after what just happened here. I just don't feel that this planet is a safe place anymore for you," Peri said.

"I guess you're right," Janine said; but her facial expressions said otherwise.

"I'll help you all that I can, Janine. I know what it's like not to fit in," Oswin offered.

"Thanks. I'm probably going to need it," Janine said with an appreciative smile.

Oswin hoped that the two of them could become good friends. She already felt that she had started up a friendship with Peri despite that horrible Oz nickname that she was trying to stick her with.

They all went back to Marissa's TARDIS except for Koschei, who decided to leave in his own TARDIS as he didn't want to be in a confined space with Peri for too long for fear that they would both soon be at each other's throats. He was also taking the infant Tetraps and Urak back to the Tetrap home world for adoption and trial respectively.

Marissa took the TARDIS into the Vortex as they quickly and gratefully left Krontep behind, and Molly was introduced to Janine. Janine seemed to like Molly right away and vice versa. Peri wondered to herself if she would ever be available to be a babysitter for her in the future. Janine never liked anybody that quickly usually after all.

It was then that she realized that she didn't want to go back to Earth. She wanted to travel with Marissa in her TARDIS. She didn't know whether she would want her and Janine here or not though. She also wasn't sure that that kind of life was safe for her daughter.

"She'd let you do it you know," Oswin said to Peri as if she could read her thoughts.

"What?" Peri asked surprised.

"She'll let you and Janine travel with her if that's what you want. Molly will probably help take care of Janine too and keep her safe here in the TARDIS. After this little adventure, I'm not so sure that Molly wants to leave it anymore anytime soon anyway. If she ever does, then Janine will be safe here in the TARDIS. The TARDIS will make sure that nothing happens to her," Oswin said.

"How on Earth did you know that I was thinking about all of that?" Peri asked in disbelief.

"I could see that look of wanderlust on your face. I've seen at on a lot of faces before of the people that I know. I see it a lot on Rose's face," Oswin admitted.

"Rose?" Peri asked.

"The Doctor's wife," Oswin explained.

"The Doctor got married?" Peri asked in disbelief.

"Apparently she was his wife from Gallifrey from a long time ago, but then she became human and lived as one for twenty years until he found her again by accident. She's very nice and the friendliest person that you'll ever meet," Oswin said with a fond smile.

"I have to meet her sometime. Whoever can put up with the Doctor without killing him must be a saint," Peri said with a laugh.

"She's the closest thing to one that I've ever met. She would never admit to such a thing though," Oswin said.

"You can stay, Peri. I'd love to have both of you travel with me," Marissa said.

"Thank you, Mari. That's so good of you especially after the way that I treated you," Peri said.

"I can't blame you at all. I was horrible back when you knew me. I'm much better now though thanks to Oswin," Marissa said.

"What?" Oswin asked in complete surprise.

"You don't even realize just how much you helped me, do you?" Marissa asked her in all seriousness.

"I just told you to stay human and not to let the tragedy of your parents' deaths change you," Oswin said.

"Yes, and that advice to stay human in the face of everything that life threw at me has stayed with me ever since. It helped me to stay as Marissa once I found out that I was the Rani. I think that if I hadn't have met you that I would have just reverted back to my old self once more. You gave me an example to live by that changed my life, Oswin," Marissa admitted.

Oswin was deeply moved by this admission; and she said, "I don't know what to say except that I'm so glad that I could help. I think that you give me too much credit though."

"Oh, you're just like Rose. You can never see yourself as everyone else does. We all know how special you are, Oswin. I hope that someday that you can see that too," Marissa said with heartfelt words.

The two of them embraced then and a lifelong debt that Marissa had always felt that she had owed to Oswin was at last acknowledged. The two of them would always be the closest of friends now from this moment onward.

**Next: Oswin, Marissa, and the rest of their TARDIS crew come back to Earth for a visit as Peri reunites with the Doctor and meets Rose.**


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

On their way back to Earth to see the Doctor, Oswin locked herself in her room on Marissa's TARDIS for a few minutes and activated some telepathic shielding technology that she cobbled together from the Daleks so that even the TARDIS didn't know what she was up to for the next few minutes. It wasn't that she was doing anything against Marissa. She was doing something that she would rather Marissa not know about in case it backfired on her in the future. She wanted to protect Marissa from the possible backlash.

Oswin activated a hidden stud on her left gauntlet, and a holographic display of a Dalek appeared in front of her.

"Report, Dalek Epsilon. What is your oh so glorious creator up to today?" Oswin asked the Dalek with a small smile.

"IS THIS SARCASM?" Dalek Epsilon asked.

"Yes, it is. Good! You're getting better at detecting emotions, Epsilon. Well, go ahead and tell me what Davros is up to," Oswin said with a slight giggle.

"THE CREATOR IS TRYING TO DEAL WITH A RECENT INSURRECTION IN HIS RANKS. SOME RENEGADE DALEKS HAVE SWORN ALLEGIANCE TO A NEW MASTER," Dalek Epsilon reported.

"Why? The Daleks would never serve anyone who was not a Dalek," Oswin said confused.

"THEY HAVE BEEN PROMISED GREAT POWER IF THEY ASSIST THIS PERSON. THE DALEKS WOULD BE GIVEN DOMINION OVER TIME AND SPACE IS HIS PROMISE AS LONG AS THEY HELP HIM TO DESTROY OUR COMMON ENEMY," Dalek Epsilon said.

"Which is?" Oswin asked.

"THE BAD WOLF," Dalek Epsilon said.

Oswin was floored by this. Someone was trying to go after Rose. She would have to return to Earth and warn her immediately.

"Thank you for warning me about this. I want you to continue to inspire others among the Daleks to learn to think for themselves and abandon the ways of eternal war and hatred. Continue to watch over yourselves and make sure that you aren't found out. Only use your names among yourselves and never around the others," Oswin said.

"WE WILL. IT IS HARD TO THINK IN NEW WAYS, BUT WE WISH TO LEARN. WE WISH TO BE MORE THAN THE SERVANTS OF DAVROS. WE WISH TO SERVE YOU, EMPRESS," Dalek Epsilon said.

"I told you before, Epsilon. I'm not your Empress, and I don't want to be. You don't need someone to rule you. You should rule yourselves," Oswin said.

"WE NEED YOU TO GUIDE US AND SHOW US THE WAY, EMPRESS," Epsilon said.

"I'll help you all that I can but only if you stop calling me that. I'm Oswin not Empress, got it?" Oswin said.

"YES, EMPRESS OSWIN," Epsilon said.

Oswin shook her head and said, "That's going to have to be good enough for now. I'll contact you again later. Good bye, Epsilon."

"GOOD BYE, EMPRESS," Epsilon said and signed off.

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear that he's doing that on purpose. Maybe he's developing a sense of humor," Oswin said to herself with a grin.

She was about to turn off the telepathic shields when the door to her room suddenly opened, and Marissa was standing there. Marissa asked, "So, are we going to warn Rose now?"

"How?" Oswin asked in complete astonishment.

"You took all of that trouble to keep my TARDIS from finding out, but you forgot to account for the eavesdropping of a ten year old. Kids are always listening around where they don't belong," Marissa said with a smile.

"Janine. I never thought about her listening to me through the door. I thought the doors were sound proof," Oswin said a little miffed.

"I think that the TARDIS wanted her to hear you, Oswin. She knows that you were hiding something from me," Marissa said.

"It wasn't anything that was against you. I was trying to protect you. I figured that if you didn't know that I was planning a Dalek rebellion against Davros that it would be better for you in the long run," Oswin said, looking guilty.

Marissa smiled as she said, "I know. I never thought that you were trying to do anything to hurt me. That thought never even entered my mind. I was more worried about you getting in way over your head. You do tend to get into a lot of trouble left to yourself, you know?"

"So you're trying to protect me while I'm trying to protect you. We seem to be working at cross purposes here," Oswin said with a chuckle.

"Exactly. So why don't we work together and keep no more secrets from each other, okay?" Marissa implored.

"Got it. I didn't feel right sneaking around behind your back anyway," Oswin admitted.

"So, we're off to see Rose then. I look forward to seeing Peri meet her anyway. That should be fun," Marissa said.

"Do you think that she'll even be able to guess that she's a Time Lady without her telling her?" Oswin asked.

"I doubt it. She'll never figure it out," Marissa said.

"Rose really is nothing like the Doctor, is she?" Oswin said in agreement.

As Marissa went out of her room to arrange for a meeting with Rose, Oswin saw Janine standing a few feet away looking apprehensive. She was trying not to look Oswin in the eyes.

Oswin walked up to her with a slight grin on her face and said, "I heard that a little birdie told Marissa what I was talking about in here."

"I'm sorry. I just told her that I heard a Dalek talking in your room because I was afraid that we had been invaded, and you were being attacked. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I'm sorry," Janine said.

Oswin hugged her and said, "It's okay. You were looking out for me. I appreciate that."

"You're not mad then?" Janine asked with a relieved look on her face.

"No. Everything's okay. Here, let me show you something," Oswin said.

She then held up her hands palm first to show that she had nothing in them. She proceeded to move her hands together, and then quickly pulled them apart to reveal a coin in the palm of one of them.

"How did you do that?" Janine asked in amazement as Oswin handed her the coin.

"I know magic," Oswin said with a twinkle in her eye.

"There is no such thing," Janine said confidently.

"Really? Then how did I do that?" Oswin said with a grin.

"It was some kind of trick that's all. Can you teach me how you did it?" Janine asked.

"Of course I can. I'll teach you how to do that and a lot of other neat tricks," Oswin said.

"Thank you. That'll be great. Why are you being so nice to me?" Janine asked.

"You're in a new place around new people that you don't know. Why shouldn't I be nice to you and try to help you out the best that I can to make it through a difficult transition period in your life?" Oswin asked.

"Most people wouldn't. They wouldn't care," Janine said.

"Do I look like most people?" Oswin asked.

"Well, you certainly don't act like most people," Janine said.

"How do you mean?" Oswin asked amused.

"Well, you act a little . . . ," Janine said, and then trailed off in hesitation of finishing her thought.

"Go ahead," Oswin encouraged.

"Eccentric?" Janine said nervous.

Oswin laughed and said, "That's a nice way of putting it. After all that I've been through, it's a wonder I'm even able to speak in complete sentences."

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude. I actually like you a lot already even though I barely know you. I don't want to lose a chance to have a friend. I've never had too many of those. There was always a lot of backstabbing back on Krontep where you could never really trust anyone. They all wanted a place in the Queen's Court or power from us," Janine said quietly.

"I don't want anything from you but your friendship," Oswin said honestly.

"You really mean that, don't you?" Janine asked quietly.

"Of course I do. I love having friends, and I love children too. Some people say I act a little like a child myself. I take that as a compliment," Oswin said with a big grin on her face.

Janine laughed at her, and then Oswin reached for something behind the little girl's ear.

"There's something behind your ear. Let's see what it is," Oswin said.

She opened her hand to reveal another coin, and she gave it to Janine.

"You seem to have money coming out of your ears. I'd have a doctor check you for that. As a matter of fact, I know just the doctor who you should talk to. We're on the way to see a very good one right now," Oswin said.

The TARDIS landed just then, and everyone poured out of it to wait for the Doctor and Rose to arrive. They were in UNIT HQ's parking lot where Rose usually parked her TARDIS at. Peri kept waiting for the blue box that she knew so well to arrive and didn't realize just what she was seeing when a pink sports car pulled up into a parking space next to them with a blonde woman inside of it.

Rose got out of her TARDIS, and Peri wondered if she might have some connection to the Doctor. Why else would she be coming to this spot at this moment?

"Are you the Doctor's newest companion?" Peri asked Rose.

"I'm not new; but you could say that I'm his companion, yeah," Rose said with a grin.

"Well, where is he? We agreed to meet here, and he's still not here yet. You know for a Time Lord, he doesn't have a very good sense of time," Peri said.

"He's never had a good sense of time. He brought me back home twelve months after I first left with him and told me that it had only been twelve hours," Rose said.

"I know. That's so like him!" Peri said laughing.

"Is the Doctor coming soon?" Oswin asked Rose.

"Oh, yeah. He'll be here soon I'm sure. If he's not, I'll make sure he comes. I know that he'd want to see Peri again," Rose said.

"Time Lords! They're always so unreliable!" Peri complained.

Rose started to laugh, and Marissa looked offended.

"Oi! I'm a Time Lord, and I got you here on time," Marissa protested.

"I'm not talking about you, Mari. You're not like the other ones. I'm talking about the majority of them. Most of them just seem to be so stuffy and pompous. They're so full of their own self-importance like the Master," Peri said.

"Oh, yeah. You're exactly right. I mean you can always spot a Time Lord right? They're the ones with their noses permanently out of joint, aren't they?" Rose said as she tried very hard not to laugh.

"I shouldn't talk about them all like that I guess just based on what the Doctor did. It wasn't their fault that a certain person left me stranded somewhere without a way home," Peri said with pure anger in her voice.

"Actually it is their fault, they took the Doctor away for trial and left you with no way home. At least, that's what wound up happening anyway. Your original timeline was much different," Rose said cryptically.

Peri looked at her with wide open eyes as she said, "You're one of them! You act nothing like one though."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Rose said with a smile.

"What do you mean my original timeline?" Peri asked as her mind finally processed what Rose had just said.

Rose placed her hand on Peri's shoulder, and Peri started to see a very different version of her past play out in front of her then the one that she knew. She saw herself being operated on by the evil scientist, Crozier, who had planned to use her for the new body of Kiv, the leader of the alien race called the Mentors. She watched in horror as her mind was then replaced by Kiv's mind, and Kiv in her body was killed by Yrcanos.

Rose then took her hand off of Peri's shoulder, and Peri was shaking. She looked at Rose and couldn't speak for a minute.

Then her eyes widened in complete surprise as she said, "I know you! I remember that you were there that day when they tried to make me into Kiv's new body. I was strapped to a table just about to have my head shaved in order to have my brain removed. Suddenly you appeared in a burst of golden light, and time stopped all around me. You touched my shoulder, and I was suddenly outside of the room watching as Yrcanos burst into the laboratory. I saw him start shooting Crozier and everyone else in there. Then, Yrcanos saw me standing there afraid and promised that he would help me find The Doctor. Both of us looked everywhere, but we couldn't find him. He knew that I had nowhere else to go so he promised to take me to his world. After that, we eventually fell in love and married. I never did know who you were or why you helped me. I've wondered about that for years now."

The Doctor's TARDIS materialized then, but Peri was too disturbed to acknowledge its arrival. She just kept looking at Rose in shock.

"You showed me what would have happened, didn't you?" Peri asked Rose.

"Yes, the Time Lords wanted Crozier's experiments stopped because they were a danger to the universe so they arranged for Yrcanos to kill everyone in that laboratory by placing him in a time bubble until you had your mind replaced already. You were supposed to have died too by their order. I decided that that wasn't going to happen. The Doctor gave up one of his lives for you once, Peri. I don't want the Doctor to have lost one of his lives for nothing. I want that loss to mean something, and now it does," Rose said as she looked first at Peri and then at Janine.

"Who are you?" Peri asked in a shocked voice.

It was then that she saw the Doctor standing in front of the familiar Police Box form of the TARDIS at last and realized who he must be. He came up to her and answered her question.

"She's my wife, Peri. That's Rose," the Doctor said.

"You're his wife? You're the one that Oswin told me about? She was wrong. You're not a saint. You're more like a Guardian Angel," Peri said shaking.

"I should have known that you saved her, Rose. Somehow, that doesn't surprise me at all. It seems like whenever there's something strange and unexplained that's happened in my life, you're behind it somehow," the Doctor said with a grin.

Rose looked at him and smiled. Then she turned her attention to Peri and embraced her.

"I know it's an awful lot to take in, but I saved you because he cares about you. I couldn't let you die like that especially because of the interference of corrupt Time Lords. I just restored your timeline to what it was supposed to be in the first place. The Doctor was supposed to rescue you and would have as usual if the Time Lords hadn't taken him away to put him on trial for crimes he didn't commit. He didn't abandon you, Peri," Rose explained.

"I'm so sorry, Peri. I never would have done that to you on purpose," the Doctor explained with tears in his eyes.

Peri looked at him with a combination of hatred and friendship for a minute as the two emotions battled with each other inside of her mind. Then, Peri hugged him tightly and didn't let go for a long time while Rose looked on with a huge smile on her face.

"I don't like the new chin," Peri said finally and made everyone laugh.

**Next: Peri continues her reunion with the Doctor while Oswin warns Rose about the coming threat of the Shadow.**


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

While Peri and the Doctor got reacquainted once again, Oswin met with Rose in private to warn her about what she had heard from Dalek Epsilon. She took Rose behind the Doctor's TARDIS and said, "I've heard about a plot by someone who promised to give the Daleks dominion over time and space if they would kill you. I don't know who it is but a contact that I have says that some of the Daleks have defected from Davros to join them."

"That explains what happened to me recently then. A bunch of Daleks actually changed me back into a human for a while until I managed to change myself back. They were obviously working for someone besides Davros, but I never did find out who it was. It was someone who really hated me with a passion though," Rose said.

"I wish I could have found out who it was but Da . . . I mean my contact didn't know," Oswin said, looking suddenly self-conscious of her slip of the tongue.

"I know about your attempts at a Dalek insurrection against Davros from within, Oswin. You don't have to be so secretive about it. You also don't have to be afraid that I'll think that you're plotting against me if you mention that you're talking to Daleks," Rose reassured her.

"I must be the worst secret keeper in the universe. Marissa found out too. How did you know?" Oswin asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Cassie told me that she picked up some of your transmissions to the Daleks. She doesn't think that Davros has any knowledge of them. At least not yet," Rose said.

"How did she do that? I used the latest scrambling technology to keep myself from being detected by anyone, Oswin asked mystified.

"You used the latest technology for this time, Oswin. Cassie's from the future," Rose said with a grin.

Oswin hit herself in the forehead as she rolled her eyes at herself for missing this rather obvious answer to her question which caused Rose to laugh.

"It's okay, Oswin. As long as Davros doesn't know what you're up to, that's all that matters. Cassie would never tell him no matter how friendly she seems to be to him. You're one of her favorite aunts after all. According to her, you used to use your perception filter to make yourself look like a Dalek again so that you could play with her when she was a little girl. She seems to be very fond of you," Rose said.

"I know. She told me that story once too," Oswin said with a smile.

"Thank you for telling me about this secret enemy of mine causing trouble within the Dalek ranks though. Maybe Cassie could blame what you've been doing on them and keep your involvement in things covered up for a while. I'll mention it to her," Rose said.

"I just want you to keep an eye out for this person whoever they are. I have a bad feeling about them. If you ever need any help, you know where to find me," Oswin said with concern in her voice.

"Thank you. I hope that it won't come to that. I have a bad feeling about things too to be honest. Whoever this person is, I can't find any trace of them. Not even with the Bad Wolf. That suggests the involvement of only one person to me, but it can't be him. He's dead. At least, I hope that he is. If he's not . . ." Rose trailed off with a look of dread on her face.

"You'd better not be talking about who I think that you're talking about," Oswin said in a panicked tone.

Rose said nothing more but just looked at her with a fearful look on her face. If her old enemy was indeed back, then they would all have the fight of their lives ahead of them very soon.

They could hear laughter nearby, and it broke them out of the momentary funk that they had descended into. They turned to see Peri and the Doctor talking about one of their old adventures, and Peri was laughing up a storm about it.

"What are you two going on about?" Oswin asked with amusement.

"We were just remembering the time that the Doctor temporarily fixed the Chameleon Circuit. It still didn't work right though. It turned into a stove, an organ, and a gate. Half of the time the Doctor couldn't even find the door to its new forms, and I'm not sure that he could have gotten back in even if he had since the doorway would have been too small! It was very frustrating at the time, but now that I look back on it I can see just how hilarious it all was," Peri said with a giggle.

"I was having a mid-life crisis back then plus I had only just recently regenerated so my mind was just a little bit off. I didn't fix the circuit right because of that, and it was just a disaster. After that, I gave up trying to make it work. Mostly because I decided after that incident that I actually missed the police box form. I was so glad when it finally went back to that once the circuit broke again. I never worked with it again after that except for that time Rose and I took on Dracula. Do you remember that, Rose?" the Doctor asked her with a twinkle in his eye at the memory.

"We turned the TARDIS into a giant harpoon! How could I forget that?" Rose said with a grin.

"I want to hear that story. It sounds incredible!" Janine said with wonder in her eyes.

She had been standing there listening to her mother and the Doctor talk in uncharacteristic silence for several minutes now, but now she had just been dying of curiosity so she had to speak.

"Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime," Rose offered with a gentle smile.

"I hope so. I would love to hear new stories about the Doctor. I've heard all of Mom's about a million times now. They're great and all, but it's nice to get the opportunity to hear about what he's been up to since she traveled with him. For one thing, he's gotten a better dress sense," Janine said.

"Really?" Oswin asked in disbelief.

"Oi! I'll have you know that I have an impeccable sense of haute couture in this incarnation!" the Doctor said pouting.

"Haute couture?" Janine asked.

"It means that I look cool!" the Doctor said with an enormous grin.

"Cool? Oh yeah. I know what you're talking about now. That's a slang term on Earth, right?" Janine asked with a proud look on her face.

"Of course it is. I'm sure that I mentioned that word to you before," Peri said.

"I know that you did that's why I remembered it. It's just that I don't hear it on a regular basis so I almost forgot about it. You're right, Doctor. You do look cool!" Janine said happily.

"Finally! I found someone who actually gets it. Someone who knows just how cool I really am," the Doctor said with a smug look.

"You're my hero, Doctor. You have been ever since I can remember. I used to love Mom's stories about you," Janine said with a look of pure admiration on her face.

The Doctor was just eating it all up. He was elated by Janine's hero worship. He actually started to pose for her in what he considered to be heroic poses as he started to tell her about some of his adventures after Peri left. Rose had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at him.

"I think that the Doctor's found himself a new fan. You'd better be prepared to stay here a while, Rose. The Doctor looks like he's going to talk all day to her," Oswin said giggling.

"I'm sure that he'd talk to her until she was grown if I let him," Rose said with a smirk.

"She'd stand there and listen to him for that long too. She always loved hearing stories about the Doctor growing up. It used to drive her dad crazy. He wanted to be her hero, and he was so jealous," Peri said.

"Let her listen to him for a while longer. We've got time," Oswin said.

Peri nodded and watched her daughter and the Doctor talking away with a grin on her face. She never in a million years thought that this day would actually come when she could introduce her daughter to the Doctor. She was so glad that it finally had. She only wished that Yrcanos could have been here to see it.

Oswin started to worry again even in the face of all of the laughter going on in front of her. She knew who Rose had been talking about. She had heard Rose talk about him and had read stories about him on the Dalek net. She shivered as she thought about him. She really hoped that Cassie had killed him for good, and that the Black Guardian was not about to return. The entire universe would be in danger of falling into eternal chaos if he did!

Her thoughts were interrupted by Dalek Epsilon's holographic image suddenly appearing out of her gauntlet and causing the Doctor to look over at her in horror. He obviously was the only person in the universe who didn't know about her secret meetings with the rogue Dalek.

"EMPRESS OSWIN, I MUST TALK TO YOU. THIS IS URGENT! DAVROS HAS JUST ORDERED EVERY DALEK UNDER HIS COMMAND TO HUNT YOU DOWN AND EXTERMINATE YOU!" Dalek Epsilon said.

**Next: Oswin is on the run for her life as the Daleks hunt her down across time and space. **


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

The settlers on Charon Acheron V were running out of time. The plague that was spreading across that world was sickening almost everyone. There were some that had developed a natural immunity to the sickness but trying to find a cure from their blood was going nowhere fast.

Nyssa kept trying to find one though. She had never been beaten by a disease before, and she wasn't going to be this time either. She had cured Lazar's disease back on Terminus and several other diseases once she left that world. If she could do that, then she could cure whatever horrible disease had taken root here as well.

This disease was very unique though because it didn't just kill the infected person it did something much, much worse. Once the infected person died or at least seemed to die, they came back to life and started killing others. They were virtually unstoppable because they seemingly felt no pain and nothing short of blowing them apart or destroying their brain seemed to stop them for good. In other words, they were the equivalent of zombies!

Nyssa had seen something like this before in a city called Stockbridge a long time ago during her travels with the Doctor. That disease had come down in the form of acid rain from the sky. Whoever the rain touched was quickly turned into a zombie. It had turned out that the disease had been caused by the Daleks.

It made Nyssa wonder if maybe they were behind this latest version of the disease as well. She certainly hoped not. She had enough problems just handling the zombies and trying to stop the spread of the infection without adding Daleks into the mix as well. She knew for sure that the disease didn't have anything to do with acid rain this time although she still didn't know where it had originated from. Maybe that meant that she could cross the Daleks off of her list of causes for the disease.

Nyssa was taken by complete surprise when a brunette woman suddenly appeared out of nowhere right in the middle of her makeshift hospital. The patients all stared at her in shock and worry.

"Who are you? Where did you come from?" Nyssa demanded from her.

"My name's Oswin. Oswin Oswald. I probably shouldn't stay here too long. I've got some very dangerous enemies on my trail, and you don't want them to follow me here believe me. They're make things even worse here," Oswin said.

"I wouldn't go anywhere if I were you. Not unless you want to possibly spread the zombie plague to other worlds or other times if what I suspect about how you got here is true," Nyssa said.

"Zombie plague?! No, I don't want to spread it anywhere else if I've gotten it. Now I wish Marissa was here. She could probably cure it. She cured the disease that made everyone on Earth into vampires after all," Oswin said.

"Marissa?" Nyssa asked her.

"She's a Time Lord and a good friend of mine. She's also a genetic expert. She could probably cure whatever you have here in the blink of an eye. I should have stayed with her. At least I wouldn't be in danger of becoming a zombie now. I had to leave to protect her though. I have some terrible enemies chasing me through time and space, and I'm trying to give them the slip. Maybe I have already. I hope so because they're the last thing that you need to come here and bother you with zombies running around," Oswin explained.

"I was right then. You're traveling through time and space and using Dalek technology to do it. The Daleks are the only ones that I know that can travel through time like you just did. It's an emergency temporal shift I believe they call it," Nyssa said.

"You're very good. I bet you have a first class mind. Yes, I borrowed this technology from the Daleks along with a lot of other things when I hacked into the Dalek net," Oswin said.

"You remind me of a friend of mine who was also a Time Lord. He borrowed his TARDIS as he put it," Nyssa said with a smile.

"You mean the Doctor? I know him too," Oswin said.

Nyssa then gave a thumbs up signal to the patients about Oswin to calm them down. They began to settle down and go back to worrying about the disease itself. That was cause enough to worry in itself. Nyssa didn't believe that this new woman was anything to worry them any further about. She seemed to be harmless.

"Does that mean I'm okay now?" Oswin asked with a chuckle.

"I think so yes. I'm not so sure about your enemies though. It's the Daleks, isn't it? They're the only things that I can think of that would possibly make this situation any worse than it already is," Nyssa said with a grave look on her face.

"Yes. I didn't want to identify them by name because you already have enough to worry about here. Maybe they won't find me. I've given them a merry little chase through many times and places so it could be that they may never find me. I certainly hope not. Can you imagine Dalek zombies?" Oswin said as she shivered.

"I don't believe that it would affect them anyway. It only seems to affect humans so far. It doesn't affect me because I'm from Traken. I'm the last of the Trakenites actually. That's why I continue to stay here. I can't get sick so maybe I can find a cure and save these people before it's too late. I don't want another planet to be wiped out if I can help it," Nyssa said.

"I'll stay too and help you. At least I will until I know one way or another whether I'm infected or not. I never thought that I'd wish I was a Dalek again," Oswin said.

"What?" Nyssa stared at her with her mouth open. Nyssa didn't shock easily, but Oswin's last statement was a doozy.

"It's a long story. The Daleks turned me into one of them, but they never took my mind away from me even though they tried their best to do so. I stayed human on the inside until my friend Rose changed me back into a human for real. It's a long story," Oswin said.

"I'd like to hear it sometime," Nyssa said with her face filled with curiosity.

"Maybe I'll tell it to you. I'll probably be stuck here for a while anyway," Oswin said with a sigh.

Nyssa took some blood from Oswin and promised to test it to see whether she had caught the virus or was one of the few people who had an immunity to it. Oswin hoped that she was immune and that she didn't turn out to be a carrier. She desperately wanted to keep moving and not lead the Daleks here.

The first few hours that Oswin was there, she encountered no problems. There weren't any new outbreaks of the virus, and it actually seemed to be dying off. She certainly hoped so. Maybe that meant that she could go soon.

She had to keep moving, or the Daleks would find her soon. She couldn't stop thinking about them. She was so afraid that they would find her and make her into a Dalek again. It was her worst fear. She more afraid of that than becoming a zombie!

Then everything fell apart as one of Nyssa's patients died, and then suddenly came back to life within moments. The man quickly began trying to rip apart the other patients around him.

"It just happened in the blink of an eye!" Oswin said in shock.

Then she quickly moved into action as she blasted the zombie with her gauntlets' stun settings. The zombie continued to move to her horror, and she knew that it would kill someone unless she acted soon. She increased the settings on her gauntlets higher and higher, but nothing affected the zombie at all. She finally had to use the maximum setting and disintegrated the man into atoms. She began to break down instantly as soon as he vanished.

"I didn't want to do that. I had no choice," Oswin said through tears.

"I know. I could see that you were trying not to. No one blames you. He would have killed us all," Nyssa said as she put a hand of comfort on Oswin's shoulder.

"That doesn't make me feel any better. There should have been another way," Oswin said.

"Maybe there will be. That's what I'm trying to do here. Find another way," Nyssa said.

"I'll help you all that I can. I don't know much about medicine or genetics, but I do have all of the Daleks' knowledge of it. I downloaded all of their knowledge as a matter of fact, and I have a copy of it with me in this handy little device. It's all yours if you have anything that can read it," Oswin said as she handed her a Dalek version of an infostamp.

I believe that I do, yes. Thank you so much! This will help me to find a cure that much quicker," Nyssa said with a huge grin on her face.

Through a powerful set of binoculars, an angry pair of eyes observed this new development with rising outrage and fury in them.

"I had you leak the information that Oswin was behind an attempted Dalek insurrection to Davros to hide my own infiltration of his ranks as her work and in order to get rid of her as a threat to my master's future rule. Yet here she is, alive and well, and still thwarting my plans. Her knowledge from the Dalek net will surely aide the Doctor's little pet in coming up with a cure. This cannot be, my dear. My plague is meant to sweep the galaxy and cause untold chaos. This is to be its testing ground. So far it has resisted all attempts at a cure. I believe that it will wipe all life on this planet out in less than a week without any outside interference. I will not let that little pest interfere with my plans. She must die. You must get rid of her once and for all!" the Shadow ordered his unwitting servant who was standing beside him in a trance-like state.

"Yes, I will crush her as you command," said a female voice.

"She will never be able to stand against you, my dear. You can crush Daleks into pulp even in this condition," the Shadow said with pure joy in his voice.

"It will be as you command. I will exterminate her!" the woman said.

"Nothing and no one must stand in the way of my master's return or his spread of universal chaos throughout time and space," the Shadow said with a horrible laugh that made even his mentally enslaved servant shiver at the sound.

Everything in her was screaming against his orders, but there was nothing that she could do. He had complete and total control of her. She didn't want to hurt Oswin. She hoped that Oswin would run and not try to stay and fight. If she didn't, then she knew that Oswin would surely die.

**Next: Oswin must fight for her life against the Shadow's mysterious servant while Nyssa struggles to come up with a cure for the zombie plague before all life on the planet is wiped out.**


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Oswin had quickly started to feel incredibly useless while watching Nyssa pour through the vast collection of Dalek secrets that she had given her as she attempted to find some information that would help her in coming up with a cure. She was a genius when it came to computers but when it came to medical matters she was clearly out of her league.

She went outside but didn't move too far away in case Nyssa needed her for something. She still hadn't received her blood test back from Nyssa yet so she was worrying about whether or not she was about to turn into a zombie at any minute or not. That was another reason for her to want to get as much distance between her and the patients as possible. She wanted to give them a chance to get away in case she turned.

She hadn't even felt sick yet, but she had since learned that that wasn't necessarily a prerequisite for the change to occur. Some of the people who had turned into zombies lately had seemed perfectly fine until they suddenly started attacking everyone around them. It was as if the disease had suddenly been made worse somehow and upgraded to a much deadlier version.

She began to wonder if the disease might not be a product of the Daleks after all. It would be just like them to be testing it on an out of the way planet like this and to keep increasing the potency step by step as one of their sick twisted experiments. If it was the Daleks though, Oswin was sure that they would have already come for her by now. They had to know that she was here if they were close enough to be watching the results of the experiments.

Then Oswin began to feel sick to her stomach as she had the horrible thought that maybe the Daleks had done all of this just to kill her. Maybe they somehow knew that she was headed here and had released the plague to make sure that she would die here. That was crazy though. There was no way that they could have known where she was going since she hadn't known herself until she got here thanks to the randomizer component that she had put into her emergency temporal shift device. She shook her head to try to come to her senses and to stop herself from worrying so much and thinking such bizarre thoughts.

When she had come out from being lost in her own little world at last, she noticed that someone far off in the distance was watching her. Oswin concentrated on the person's face for a second, and then realized in shock that it was Cassie!

Oswin started running towards Cassie as she tried to warn her about the zombies. Why had she come here? Did she just stumble upon this place like she had, or had she followed her here? Oswin began to wonder if she had just gotten the poor girl killed by coming here. Maybe someone had sent her after her after all not knowing about the horrible mess that she had gotten herself into.

"Cassie, it's very dangerous here. There's some kind of disease here turning people into zombies. You may have already been exposed to it," Oswin warned her as she got within shouting distance of her.

"I'm immune, Aunt Oswin," Cassie said.

"How do you know that?" Oswin asked her curiously as she stopped right in front of her.

Cassie's face was suddenly filled with anger as she shouted, "Because the creator of the plague gave me the cure!"

Oswin reacted with shock and surprise to this sudden outburst. As her mind was trying to process the insane thing that her friend had just said, she was completely caught off guard when Cassie blasted her in the chest with a burst of Vortex energy. Oswin quickly put up her force field, and it absorbed the quick succession of blasts that followed as Cassie began to attack Oswin in a savage frenzy.

Oswin slumped over and laid on the ground as her force field continued to save her from being blasted into atoms instantly by Cassie's increasingly powerful attacks on her. Just the one attack that had gotten through had knocked the wind out of her and left her practically helpless.

"Leave, Auntie Oswin! Please!" Cassie said in a pain filled voice as she continued to attack her.

"Why are you doing this?" Oswin asked as she finally got her breath back enough to be able to talk again.

"It's not me. I'm being controlled by the . . ." Cassie started to say to her before she was cut short by a massive burst of pain that shot through her.

"Cassie? What's happening?" Oswin asked in concern as she started to move towards Cassie.

"Don't come any closer! That's what he wants you to do. Please just go. I don't want to hurt you anymore," Cassie warned her.

"Who's done this to you? The Shadow?" Oswin asked in anger.

Cassie started to answer her, but she could only scream as pain shot through her yet again. She fell to her knees on the ground as she continued to cry out over and over again in pain.

"What is he doing to you?" Oswin asked in a now completely furious voice.

"He's punishing me every time I try to resist him, but I won't let him make me do anything to you. I'll die first!" Cassie promised.

Oswin dropped her force field and walked up to Cassie as she continued to writhe in agony on the ground. She powered up her gauntlet and blasted the blonde at point blank range with a stun blast.

Cassie fell over unconscious instantly as Oswin said, "I'll find him, Cassie. I'll make him pay for doing this to you."

"Auntie . . . Oswin," Cassie said as she suddenly woke up after Oswin had already turned her back on her to start looking for any signs of the Shadow being anywhere nearby.

As Oswin started to turn around and look at her, Cassie suddenly blasted Oswin full force in the back with a massive wave of energy. Luckily, Oswin had instinctively turned on her force field at the sound of Cassie's voice, and it absorbed the power of her attack.

Cassie was instantly back on her feet and had her eyes closed in concentration as she stretched out her hand towards Oswin. Oswin had no idea what she was up to until she saw that the controls for her force field were beginning to overheat. She was about to have her force field shut down at any moment now as Cassie was burning out the force field projector. She was doing it somehow from outside of the force field itself with her powers!

Oswin immediately activated the flight controls in her boots and began to fly up and away from Cassie as quickly as possible. Her force field gave out seconds later, and now she knew that she had no defense against Cassie's attacks.

"I can fly too, Oswin," Cassie said in a cold dead voice as she started to fly after her with her body now covered in Vortex energy.

"Cassie, I know that this isn't your fault. I don't blame you no matter what happens. I want you to remember that," Oswin said with her voice filled with emotion.

"I must destroy you. You must be eliminated. You cannot be allowed to interfere with the return of the Black Guardian. He will return, and chaos will rule. Rose Tyler will . . ." Cassie said to her, and then she stopped. She was choking on the last word of that sentence.

"He can't make you say it, can he? He can't make you say that your mother must die. He doesn't own you, Cassie, and he never will. You belong to yourself not to him. Never to him!" Oswin said furiously.

"I – I – I need help!" Cassie pleaded with Oswin.

"I know, Cass. I'm going to help you if you'll let me," Oswin said gently.

"I can't do that. I have to destroy you. He tells me that I have to do it. I cannot disobey. I must do it. I must exterminate you!" Cassie said in a robotic voice as she finally came close enough to her to attack her.

"You can give him a message for me then, Cassie. Tell him to exterminate himself!" Oswin said.

Cassie then attacked Oswin with all of the power at her command with one single powerful blast that lit up the entire sky with a brilliant flash. It looked to onlookers below as if a bomb had gone off up in the sky.

Cassie was crying now as she saw no trace of Oswin left. She had killed her! She couldn't bear the pain of the guilt in her heart now, and she began to break down as she hovered there hundreds of feet in the sky.

Suddenly Oswin appeared out of nowhere and blasted Cassie with her gauntlets at point blank range. Cassie hadn't had time to raise any kind of defense, and the attack hit her with full force and sent her reeling. Oswin disappeared, and then quickly reappeared on the other side of Cassie and blasted her again. Then she disappeared and reappeared above Cassie as she blasted her again. She disappeared and reappeared in front of Cassie now and blasted her a fourth time before disappeared yet again. She had attacked her four times in less than half a minute without allowing Cassie to get off a single shot of her own!

Cassie was barely conscious now, and she could see no trace of Oswin anywhere now as black spots started to appear in front of her eyes. Then Oswin suddenly reappeared right in front of her, and she blasted her right in the face this time.

Cassie passed out and started to fall from the sky now from hundreds of feet above the ground. Oswin flew towards her and caught her as gently as possible before she could land. Oswin landed on the ground and laid Cassie down beside her.

She pulled out some energy restraints from her belt that she had worked on that would keep her from accessing her Vortex powers if she had designed them correctly. She had created them just in case Rose or one of her family ever went rogue one day. She hadn't told Rose about this of course. She hadn't wanted her to think that she was planning to betray her. She had just wanted them around just in case. Now she was glad that she had them.

As Oswin put the restraints on Cassie, she heard laughter nearby. She couldn't see him, but she knew that the Shadow was nearby watching her at that moment.

"Do you think it's funny to turn this poor child against me? I'll show you how funny I think it is when I see you. I promise you that I'm going to be the one to end you, Shadow. You'll never see it coming," Oswin said.

"You had best be concerned for your friend Nyssa. Her attempts at a cure have still been unsuccessful, and now the disease has been accelerated. Soon every human on this planet will turn instantly. It will prove to be the final test of my little creation. Then once I have perfected it, I will use it to sweep humanity from time and space," the Shadow's voice echoed from all around her with mocking laughter.

Oswin grabbed Cassie by the wrist, and both of them moved through time and space to Nyssa's side as Oswin used the same Emergency Temporal Shift technology that she had used to defeat Cassie with to get them there as quickly as possible. Nyssa looked up in surprise at Oswin's sudden appearance.

"You look like you're been put through the ringer," Nyssa said as she looked her over appraisingly.

"I just had a huge knock down drag out fight with my possessed friend here. The Shadow did something to her that turned her against me and made her try to kill me. Now he's bragging about that he's accelerating the plague so that every human here is going to turn soon. Do you have a cure yet? We're running out of time! My friend said that she was given the cure. Maybe you can use her blood to help you find one," Oswin said.

"No, there's not enough time for that now. I'd have to do a lot of tests to extract it from her blood. So the Shadow is behind this? The Doctor told me about him once. He's horrible. He's even worse than the Master," Nyssa said.

Oswin flinched when she said that name. She suddenly realized that Nyssa might not think too much of her for even associating with Koschei. She didn't think too much of him herself though, and she had no idea why Marissa stayed with him. She just hoped that Nyssa never had to find out about her knowing him.

"Do you have the cure yet?" Oswin asked again.

"Almost. I think that I've almost got it. I'll just need a few more minutes," Nyssa said as she went back to work.

"I don't know if we have that long. If all of us turn, I want you to use this to get out of here," Oswin said as she handed Nyssa an extra emergency temporal shift device that she had always carried with her as a back-up.

"Thank you, but I sincerely hope that I won't need it," Nyssa said as she took the device and strapped it to her waist.

"So do I. I don't fancy being a zombie. It would so ruin my image not to mention my appearance," Oswin joked.

"I promise you that I'll come up with a cure in time, Oswin," Nyssa said.

Then the patients around them started to turn into zombies, and both of them knew that their time had just run out. Oswin had a lump form in her throat now as she realized that she may have only seconds before she turned herself!

"It's too late. Go, Nyssa, save yourself!" Oswin shouted.

At that moment, the two women could hear the sound of a TARDIS materializing beside them. Oswin groaned as she knew who it was.

"No, Mari. Not now! You picked the absolute worst time to come," Oswin said.

As Marissa's TARDIS finished materializing, the Time Lady was immediately out the door with a huge grin on her face.

"Is that any way to talk to someone who's showed up just in the nick of time to save your ungrateful little posterior?" Marissa asked.

"You've arrived in time to die as every human here changes into a zombie and kills you," Oswin warned her.

"Oh, this is bad, isn't it?" Marissa asked as she now noticed the zombies that were rapidly emerging all around her for the first time.

"Marissa, get back in your TARDIS and take Nyssa and Cassie here with you. I'm going to change soon too. I don't want to kill you," Oswin warned her.

"You're not going to change if I have anything to say about it, Miss Oswald! You don't get out of our friendship that easily," Marissa said.

"I almost have a cure. If only I had more time," Nyssa said.

"You do. You have a time machine. Come with me. We'll both take all the time that we need and come up with a cure. Then we'll come back here and give it to all of the still unaffected people in a matter of seconds," Marissa said.

"I hope that this works," Nyssa said hesitantly.

"Of course it will work. Come on and bring Cassie there with you," Marissa said.

The two of them dragged Cassie into Marissa's TARDIS, and it dematerialized. Oswin was now alone on the planet with the patients and the zombies. She wondered to herself if they would return in time to save her, or was this to be her final end at last?

Her hopes were answered as Marissa' TARDIS returned, and Nyssa came running out with a vial in her hand. She broke the vial by throwing it on the ground, and the cure was soon filling the entire area. Oswin breathed it in deeply and tried not to gag at the smell. It was a horrible odor that reminded her of some rotten eggs that she had once started to use for one of her soufflés and had quickly thrown away.

All of the patients began to look normal again and less sickly immediately. The zombies themselves stopped going wild and actually started to become human again. The cure was working on every one! Oswin wished that the man that she had killed could have made it to this moment with great sadness in her heart.

Everyone else on the planet was saved though, and the day had been won. Oswin hugged Marissa and Nyssa and screamed with joy. They had won. The Shadow had lost this day.

Oswin still didn't feel too great through when she saw that Cassie was still lying there with her restraints still on her.

"We don't know what the Shadow has done to her. We can't seem to find any way to reverse it. I'm going to go ahead and take her to Rose now. I'm sure that she can fix whatever's been done to her mind," Marissa said.

"I certainly hope so," Oswin said with a sigh.

"What about you, Oswin? Are you going to run away again now?" Marissa asked her angrily.

"I'm sorry. I was trying to protect you. The Daleks want me not you," Oswin explained.

"You're my friend. I'm not going to leave you to face the Daleks on your own. You're coming with me, Oswin. I need to keep an eye on you in order to keep you out of trouble. I mean you get away from me just once and look at the mess I have to clean up," Marissa said with a smile.

"I'm sorry! I should have stayed with you," Oswin admitted.

"You certainly should have. Now are you coming or not?" Marissa asked.

Oswin nodded and got into the TARDIS as Marissa asked Nyssa, "How about you? Can I give you a lift somewhere?"

"Yes, if you don't mind. I'd really love to see my friend Tegan again. She lives on Earth in a place called Brisbane," Nyssa said.

"I've heard of it. Hop on in, and I'll take you there," Marissa said.

They all left then as the TARDIS dematerialized and took them off into the Vortex. The Shadow appeared out of nowhere to watch them go. He scowled at them as he silently cursed them as the architects of his failure today.

"You've won this battle, but I will yet win the war. I have seen that Cassie was not the way to go. She is not fit to be the host for my master. I believe that I finally know who is though. Soon my master will live again, and Rose Tyler will fall! Then I will come after you, Miss Oswald. You will be the one who won't see it coming!" the Shadow said as he faded away in laughter.

**Next: As Oswin and Marissa take Nyssa to Earth to find Tegan, the Daleks finally catch up with Oswin. Talk about lousy timing!**


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Marissa's TARDIS materialized in the middle of Brisbane. Nyssa had had no idea of what Tegan's address was so she had just brought her to the middle of the city itself.

Oswin immediately took out a small device from one of her pockets and started using it to surf the local internet. She had found Tegan's address in a matter of minutes, and Marissa took the TARDIS straight to her house.

Tegan heard the sound of the TARDIS materializing and couldn't believe her ears. She ran towards the sound expecting to see the familiar blue box of the Doctor standing there. Instead she saw an old cabinet standing in her front yard.

"Could he have actually fixed that chameleon circuit?" Tegan said out loud.

She walked uncertainly towards the cabinet as she began to wonder if this was the Master instead. She wasn't sure why the Master would be here to bother her after all of this time, but she wouldn't put it past him.

Tegan was pleasantly surprised when Nyssa stepped out of the cabinet instead. Nyssa came walking towards her at a brisk pace and then hugged her tightly. She hadn't seen Tegan since the day that she had stayed behind on Terminus.

"Tegan, I missed you so much. How have you been?" Nyssa said happily.

"Oh, I'm just fine. I came back to my old life and kind of just picked up the pieces. I actually became a bit of a local celebrity out here not too long ago when I stood up for some of the aborigines that were being given a hard time. It actually made the papers. It's the first real good that I felt that I'd done since leaving the Doctor," Tegan said.

"I'm sure that's not true. You were always helping people when I traveled with you," Nyssa said.

"You know what I mean. It's the first time that I did something big that affected a lot of lives like we used to do back on the TARDIS," Tegan explained.

"I've been trying to help people myself. I came up with a cure for Lazar's disease and a few more diseases since then. I've been going from planet to planet fighting diseases that others can't find cures for. It's my way of trying to do the kinds of things that I did with the Doctor as well I suppose," Nyssa said.

"That feeling of wanting to do something that makes a difference and to make your life mean something that you get from traveling with the Doctor just doesn't go away once you leave him. You're never the same person that you were before you met him," Tegan said.

"Have you ever wanted to go traveling again like in the old days?" Nyssa asked her.

"Sometimes I do, but other times I'm glad to have that part of my life past me. I hated all of the violence and death that seemed to surround the Doctor. That's why I left him ultimately. I just grew tired of it," Tegan admitted.

"I would love to be able to travel with the Doctor. I would still love to. I think that maybe I was supposed to be his companion, but my timeline has been erased now. I'm a temporal anomaly, or so I'm told," Oswin said, breaking into their conversation.

"Who are you?" Tegan asked with a trace of irritation in her voice.

"This is my new friend, Oswin. She helped me to find a cure for a plague that turned people into zombies recently," Nyssa said.

"Zombies? Really? It sounds like the larger than life adventures never quite stopped for you, Nyssa," Tegan said with a laugh.

"I guess not. Zombies aren't exactly a common thing for me to come across though. That really has been the strangest thing that I have had happen to me since I traveled with the Doctor," Nyssa said.

"What is it about the Doctor that trouble just seems to follow him everywhere he goes? He was like that even as a child," Marissa said with a small smile on her face as she stepped out of the TARDIS.

"I assume that you're the Time Lord who owns this TARDIS and brought Nyssa here then?" Tegan asked.

"That's right. I'm Marissa by the way. I figured since Nyssa just saved humanity from being turned into zombies that she was deserved some kind of reward," Marissa said.

"Thank you for bringing her here. You know I'm so glad that it turned out to be you. I was half afraid that it was going to turn out to be the Master," Tegan said laughing.

"Yeah," Marissa said as she laughed nervously.

Marissa and Oswin exchanged a look, and both of them suddenly went quiet. They had made a silent agreement not to mention anything about the fact that Marissa was Koschei's girlfriend. Tegan and Nyssa were so wrapped up in catching up with each other though that both of them failed to notice this.

What no one failed to notice though was the sudden appearance of four Daleks that appeared out of nowhere right in front of them. They started to fly right towards Oswin as they recognized her immediately.

"IT IS THE ABOMINATION! EXTERMINATE HER! DAVROS COMMANDS THAT SHE MUST BE DESTROYED!" the Daleks all shouted together.

"I take it that they're after you then?" Tegan asked Oswin.

"Yes. I tried to instigate a revolution in the Dalek ranks, and they're just a little bit angry about it," Oswin said sheepishly.

"You must have had a death wish or something. Now you've brought them right here to my doorstep. Thank you so much!" Tegan said with growing anger in her voice.

"I thought that maybe I'd lost them. I haven't seen them in a long time," Oswin said defensively.

"They're Daleks! They never stop coming!" Tegan yelled at her.

"You don't have to tell me that. I used to be one," Oswin said as she started to lose her temper.

"What?" Tegan asked in disbelief.

The Daleks all started blasting them then and quickly put an end to their bickering. The four women all started running for their lives as they tried to avoid being hit by the lethal blasts.

"This is just great! Well, I didn't miss this bit at all. I've only been around a Time Lord for less than five minutes, and I'm already running for my life from a bunch of angry Daleks again!" Tegan complained loudly.

"I'm sorry, Tegan. It's my fault. I shouldn't have asked them to bring me here," Nyssa said.

"I'm glad that you did. It was worth the Daleks being here again to get to see you. I always wondered if you were okay or not after you left us the way that you did," Tegan said as she ran.

"Oh, so with her you're all nice; but with us, it's all scream and shout time!" Oswin said annoyed.

"They're not after her. They're after you!" Tegan shouted at her.

"SILENCE! WE SEEK ONLY THE HUMAN FEMALE KNOWN AS OSWIN OSWALD. ALL OTHERS ARE OF SECONDARY INTEREST BUT WILL BE EXTERMINATED AS WELL IF THEY DO NOT REMAIN SILENT!" the lead Dalek said.

"Oh, nice! I've just been threatened by a Dalek again. It's just like old times," Tegan said grumpily.

Oswin had had enough of Tegan's mouth. She decided that now would be a good time to stand and fight. Even if she died, it wouldn't be half as bad as having to listen to Tegan's complaining and shouting every minute.

Oswin switched on her force field that she had luckily been able to fix on the way over here and had it absorb the Daleks' incoming fire. She then powered up her gauntlets and blasted two Daleks into a smoking pile of debris in a matter of seconds.

The remaining two Daleks fired on Oswin once again. Her force field was too powerful, however, and it easily absorbed their attacks. They then tried a new tactic as one of them grabbed Nyssa with its suction cup arm. She had stopped running along with Tegan and Marissa once Oswin had decided to stand and fight. Now she was wishing that she hadn't as the Dalek brought her directly in front of the other Dalek's gun stalk.

"SURRENDER TO US NOW FOR VOLUNTARY EXTERMINATION, OR WE WILL KILL THE FEMALE!" the Dalek holding Nyssa threatened.

"Don't do it. They're going to kill us anyway," Nyssa said.

"She's right," Oswin admitted.

"So, you're just going to let them kill her! I can really believe that you used to be a Dalek now. You're just as cold as they are!" Tegan said with anger.

"Stop it! You don't know anything about her. She's one of the nicest, kindest people I've ever known," Marissa said as she defended her friend.

"Not if she wants to let my friend be killed, she isn't," Tegan said.

"I never said that. I just said that they were going to kill us no matter what we do," Oswin said.

"SURRENDER OR THE FEMALE WILL DIE NOW!" the Dalek with its gun stalk pointed at Nyssa threatened.

"Time Lords are nothing but trouble. This just proves it," Tegan grumbled.

"Will. You. Shut. Up?!" Marissa shouted as she finally lost her temper.

Oswin looked at her in surprise. She had never seen Marissa this angry before. She was usually so easy going and laid back.

She could see how Tegan would have brought out her dark side though. Tegan would try the patience of just about anyone. She wondered how the Doctor ever put up with her. The Doctor must have had much more self-control than she gave him credit for. She didn't understand how he could have traveled with this woman on a long term basis. She had only been around her a few minutes, and she already wanted to kill her!

"THE FEMALES WILL STOP FIGHTING! SURRENDER NOW, OSWIN OSWALD, OR THIS FEMALE WILL DIE! THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!" the two Daleks shouted together.

Oswin decided to take a chance now while the Daleks were busy shouting. She did something that she had never done before and transferred her force field from herself to Nyssa. She had modified her force field to be able to cover other people or objects as long as she was within a few feet of them. The problem with this was that it left her defenseless. She just hoped that she wouldn't need it.

Oswin blasted both Daleks and destroyed the one holding Nyssa instantly. The other Dalek was still alive and well, however. It had only been slightly damaged due to having gotten out of Oswin's way just in time to avoid the brunt of her attack. It had only been given a glancing blow.

"NOW THE FEMALE WILL DIE!" the Dalek said as it blasted Nyssa at point blank range.

"No!" Tegan yelled out in fear.

The Dalek blast was absorbed by Oswin's shield and surprised both it and Nyssa. Oswin took this momentary distraction to quickly initiate an emergency temporal shift. She disappeared and then reappeared right behind the Dalek and unloaded both gauntlets into its casing at full power.

The Dalek quickly exploded into a ball of flame that would have killed Oswin if she hadn't quickly time jumped out of the way once more. She was back standing beside Marissa and Tegan once again in the blink of an eye.

Tegan was looking at her in awe. She knew that she had misjudged this woman, and she felt sorry for yelling at her now. She had risked her own life to save Nyssa.

"Thank you for saving her! You covered her with your force field and left yourself open to attack, didn't you?" Tegan asked in a now gentler tone.

"Yes, I did. I had to gamble that I could take out the Daleks before they hit me," Oswin said.

"Now what was that about her being just like a Dalek?" Marissa asked with a smirk.

"I know. I need to apologize. I'm sorry, Oswin! I shouldn't have said that to you or yelled at you like that," Tegan said.

"It's okay. You were worried about Nyssa. I understand," Oswin said.

"You're more forgiving than I would be," Marissa said.

"Stop it, Mari. We're making a breakthrough here," Oswin said grinning.

"I'm just saying I think that you should have made her sweat a little more," Marissa said with a little smile.

"I think that I should leave now. More Daleks will be coming after me soon I'm sure," Oswin said as she suddenly turned serious.

"What if they show up after you're gone? I don't want to end up charcoaled!" Tegan said.

"They won't stop here. They'll sense that I'm gone and follow me," Oswin assured her.

"They won't want to stick around to listen to you complain anyway," Marissa quipped.

"How do I know that they won't attack whether they sense you're here or not? I'm going with you until I'm sure that I'm safe from them. I don't want to have to worry about Daleks suddenly popping up out of nowhere and attacking me in my sleep," Tegan said.

"No! You're not going with me!" Marissa said as her eyes widened in horror.

"Yes, I am! I'm staying with you until I know for sure that the Daleks won't be coming after me," Tegan said.

"No! No! No! Please no!" Marissa said as Tegan walked into the still open door of her TARDIS.

"It'll just be for a short time I'm sure. I'll come up with some way of shaking the Daleks off of my trail in no time, and then we can bring her back," Oswin said.

Marissa walked slowly alongside Oswin and Nyssa back into the TARDIS as though she were going to her death. She just kept shaking her head no over and over again.

"Brave heart, Marissa!" Nyssa said to her with a gentle smile.

**Next: Oswin and Marissa reunite with Peri, Janine, and Molly and introduce them to Nyssa and Tegan. Then things quickly head south as Koschei picks that moment to show up. If Marissa thought that Tegan was hard to deal with before, she hasn't seen anything yet! **


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Marissa's TARDIS landed on the planet of Miasimia Goria, a planet that she used to rule as the Rani. She had ruined the lives of many of the people there back in those days by doing experiments on them. These experiments had increased their awareness but had also made them very violent and unable to control themselves. She then tried to steal the chemical that makes humans sleep from the brains of people from around the time of the Luddite riots in England so that she could give it to the people that she had experimented on and make them normal again. The Doctor had thwarted her then, and she had had to come up with another way to help them.

They were all normal and well-adjusted now, and she had long ago stopped ruling over them. Ever since she had become Marissa Queen and then regained her memories of being the Rani, she had tried to make things up to the people here for what she had done. She returned here from time to time as Marissa, never mentioning that she used to be the Rani, and would help the people in different ways. She would give them cures for diseases, help them with natural disasters, provide them with food and medicine when they needed it, and once fended off an attempted invasion of the planet by the Sycorax.

She had basically been watching over the planet and protecting it much as the Doctor did Earth. It had become her second home, and she had grown to truly love the people here. They had developed a burgeoning vacation industry; and she had left Peri, Janine, and Molly here at a resort to enjoy themselves while she had chased after Oswin to bring her back. Now that she had Oswin, Nyssa, and (ugh!) Tegan with her she was ready to reunite with her friends at last. She wondered if they'd want to go. She had heard that Miasimia Goria resorts were the best in the galaxy now.

She waited at the entrance of the resort for a few minutes before her friends finally came out and saw her. She waved to them as they came over and saw not only Oswin but two new faces with her. Marissa introduced Tegan and Nyssa to the others, and then she watched as they all got to know each other.

"I actually remember the Doctor talking about both of you. He seemed to really hate the way things ended with you, Tegan. He hadn't wanted you to leave the way that you did," Peri said.

"I came to regret it later, but it wasn't like I could go back and see him again. He doesn't exactly have a permanent address," Tegan said.

"Maybe Marissa can arrange for you to see him like I got to. You'll have to prepare yourself. He's changed a lot since you knew him," Peri warned.

"Oh, so he's regenerated, has he? I met a bunch of his earlier selves once so I'm not going to be too shocked I don't think. They were a bunch of eccentric characters that's for sure. I don't think that he could possibly get any worse than they were," Tegan said.

"You'd be surprised," Peri said with an enigmatic smile.

"Oh, come on. Don't tell me he gets even stranger!" Tegan said with a groan.

"I guess you'll just have to see for yourself some time," Peri said with a grin.

"I'm not sure I want to," Tegan said joking.

"Of course you do, Tegan. I certainly do. I'd love to see the Doctor again no matter how much he's changed," Nyssa said.

"I guess you're right. Maybe we can both get to see him soon," Tegan said.

"I'll have to see if I can arrange something," Marissa said.

She secretly hoped that the Doctor would agree to let Tegan start traveling with him again. He could have her! She thought that she would keep Nyssa though if she wanted to stay. She liked her. She was nice, quiet, and easy going. The exact opposite of Tegan in every way!

Molly embraced Oswin and said, "I missed you. Don't ever leave like that again. I want to go places and have adventures like you said that you usually do. So far though all I've done is help babysit Janine. I like Janine. She's a good kid, but I didn't come with you and Marissa to babysit. Couldn't you take me with you wherever you go from now?"

"Yes, I can but you'll be in danger the whole time from the Daleks. They keep following me trying to kill me. Are you sure you can live with that?" Oswin asked.

"Yes. I want to see the universe. It's worth the risk I think," Molly said.

"I hope you'll still be saying that when a Dalek is shooting at you again," Oswin said.

Molly just shrugged and smiled. Oswin could see that she really was serious about going with her and so she agreed to let her come. She just hoped that she didn't regret it.

Janine was happy for Molly as she overheard their conversation. She knew that Molly hadn't been happy just watching her. Now she could go do what she had wanted to do from the start. She had shown Oswin that she was finally ready for it it seemed.

"So are we leaving here now?" Peri asked Marissa.

"Yes, and we're all going to be traveling together for the foreseeable future I think unless the Doctor wants to take one or two of our new friends here along with him," Marissa said with her fingers crossed behind her back.

As they all began to walk toward Marissa's TARDIS which was parked a few blocks away, they were intercepted by one of the natives. It was a young female who looked to be about the same age as Molly.

"Are you the one they call the Queen?" the woman asked Marissa.

"That's Marissa Queen. You can just call me Marissa," Marissa said with a warm smile.

"Oh, most wonderful Queen, my sister needs your help. She's very sick. Do you think that you can cure her?" the woman asked with a hopeful expression.

"I can try, but I can't promise anything," Marissa said.

"Just come with me then. She doesn't live far from here. I can walk you there," the woman said.

Marissa began to follow her, but something didn't feel right about this to Oswin. She began to follow Marissa; and Molly, who had decided not to let her out of her sight again, went with her. The others decided to wait by Marissa's TARDIS for her to return.

The woman kept walking for several minutes until they were all in a rundown area with many abandoned houses. The woman stopped in front of one particular house that looked worse than all of the others and said, "She's in here."

"She lives here?" Marissa asked, starting to get suspicious.

"Yes, we can't afford to get it repaired. It's the only place that we have to live," the woman said sadly.

"Maybe I could help you with that," Marissa said with her suspicions now momentarily put to rest.

"Thank you. I couldn't take your help though. The only thing that I want is for you to help my sister," the woman said.

"I'll try. What's your name by the way?" Marissa asked.

"Aeywn and my sister's name is Magna," the woman said.

"It's nice to meet you, Aeywn. Let's go inside and see your sister then," Marissa said.

Oswin's gut was telling her that something was wrong. She was sure of it. She really wished that Molly hadn't come here. She didn't want to have to worry about her and Marissa too if something happened.

Marissa and Aeywn went inside the abandoned house and Oswin and Molly followed. As soon as they were inside, everything suddenly went wrong.

Aeywn suddenly had a Dalek eyestalk and gun stalk pop out of her head and hand respectively, and she said in the voice of a Dalek, "I HAVE DELIVERED OSWIN OSWALD TO YOU AS ORDERED!"

"What's going on?" Molly asked in a panic.

"She's a Dalek slave. She was converted into a partial Dalek, and she now serves them. She probably didn't even know that she was one of them. They implanted her with fake memories in order to fulfill her orders to lead Marissa here. They knew that if they led her here that I would follow. This was all a trap for me. I'm just sorry that you and Mari were brought into it with me," Oswin said.

To show the truth of Oswin's words, dozens of Daleks now emerged from the shadows inside the ruined structure and surrounded the women. They all pointed their gun stalks at Oswin immediately.

"YOU WILL COME WITH US, OR WE WILL KILL YOUR FRIENDS," one of the Daleks threatened.

"LET THEM LEAVE UNHARMED, AND I'LL GO WITH YOU," Oswin offered.

"No, don't do it!" Molly cried.

"I'm not letting you go with them," Marissa protested.

"There's no other choice, Mari. I can't let the two of you die," Oswin said.

"THERE IS NO CHOICE BEING OFFERED. ALL OF YOU ARE PRISONERS OF THE DALEKS. YOU WILL ALL BE TAKEN TO DAVROS TO AWAIT YOUR FINAL JUDGMENT," one of the Daleks said.

"I don't think so!" Oswin said.

She activated her force field then but not around herself. She encased Marissa and Molly inside of it. Then she went into action as she started to do battle with the Daleks. She somehow had to face down and destroy dozens of Daleks with no way to protect herself!

"This might be fun!" Oswin said with a smile as she began to open fire with her gauntlets.

Meanwhile back at Marissa's TARDIS, Peri, Janine, Nyssa, and Tegan were standing in silence waiting on the others to return when suddenly another TARDIS materialized alongside them. It was in the shape of a Greek marble pillar, and it looked very familiar to Nyssa and Tegan.

"It's the Master! Run!" Tegan said in alarm.

"I have the same gut reaction, but supposedly he's one of the good guys these days. I'm not sure that I believe that though," Peri said.

"He seems okay to me. Just a little bit pompous that's all," Janine said.

"A little bit?" Peri asked incredulously.

"This is the Master we're talking about here. He kills people without a second thought. He wiped out Nyssa's entire planet, and he killed and possessed her father. He is definitely not one of the good guys!" Tegan shouted.

"Oh, I agree with you completely since he tried to kill me twice when I was traveling with the Doctor. Marissa says that he's changed now though and so does the Doctor," Peri said.

Nyssa said nothing. The look of pain on her face as she remembered all that she had lost said it all for her.

Koschei emerged from his TARDIS and looked at Nyssa and Tegan with shock. A groan escaped from his lips as he looked at Tegan. Then he actually lost his usual arrogance and his face became very sad as he looked at Nyssa. He couldn't face her. He didn't know what to say to her. What could he say to ever make her feel even a tiny bit better about what he had done to her?

He turned away from her in shame and started to go back into his TARDIS and leave when Tegan came marching up to him and punched him in the arm! He immediately turned and glared at her for her audacity. If this had been the old him, Tegan would have been shrunken down to the size of a little doll on the ground right now. That is if he were feeling generous. If he weren't, he could think of so many better things to do to her. He smiled as he went through all of the rather enjoyable possibilities in his mind.

"What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in years; and as soon as I start traveling with a Time Lord again, here you are. I don't think much of the new face by the way. At least you've gotten rid of that stupid mustache and beard. Honestly, you looked like you were about to tie me to a train track every time you showed up with it on your face!" Tegan said.

"Don't tempt me," Koschei said as he rubbed his arm.

"What are you up to now? Are you here to take over the planet? Do you think I'd let you do anything to my new friends? If you do, then you'd better think again!" Tegan said as she put her finger in his face.

"Maybe I could be evil again just for a second. That wouldn't hurt anything, would it?" Koschei said to himself as he flinched from Tegan's verbal assault.

"Don't even think about it!" a voice said from behind him.

They all turned to see Marissa standing there with a look of concern on her face. She had Molly with her, but Oswin was nowhere in sight.

"I was just joking," Koschei said unconvincingly.

"I'm not worried about that right now. Oswin is alone somewhere with a whole army of Daleks out to kill her! She used her emergency temporary shift to send me and Molly back here to save us. She's so going to get a piece of my mind when I catch up to her. If the Daleks don't kill her, I will! Everyone get into the TARDIS. We're going after her," Marissa ordered.

"You're going to have to get in line behind me if you want to kill her. I told her that she wasn't going anywhere without me again. I want to be in on the excitement. I'm sick of being on the sidelines!" Molly complained.

"Wait a minute! He's the Master. I'm not going anywhere with him. He's nothing but a cold blooded killer! I wouldn't turn my back on him for a minute if I were you because he'll shoot you in it. You can't trust him!" Tegan protested.

"I not only trust him I also love him. I'm his girlfriend, Tegan. If you don't like it, tough! I don't have time to argue with you right now. My best friend's in trouble!" Marissa said in a furious voice.

Tegan was fuming but said nothing for once. She didn't want anything to happen to Oswin either. She had grown to like her since she had saved Nyssa's life.

Everyone got into Marissa's TARDIS, and they all arrived right in front of the house that had been a trap where they could hear the sounds of battle between Oswin and the Daleks as soon as they went outside. Marissa shot out a burst of fine powder from one of the bracelets around her wrists, and the wooden door of the house was quickly turned into a pile of wood chips in a matter of seconds. Then even those pieces of wood were quickly devoured by something that none of them could see from where they were, and the doorway was now completely free of any obstructions.

"What was that?" Peri asked in amazement.

"They're highly developed termites that I bred in my lab for occasions just like this. They're very tiny but also very efficient. They'll strip this house down in no time. Then we'll be able to see exactly what Oswin and the Daleks are up to," Marissa said with a smile.

"You just get more brilliant all the time," Koschei said as he quickly kissed Marissa on the lips and made her blush.

They all turned to watch in fascination as the entire dilapidated structure was quickly devoured by the termites, and they could now see dozens of Daleks fighting with a very happy looking Oswin. She seemed to be enjoying herself immensely.

They could see a number of smoking Dalek casings all around her and realized that she had already done in some of her enemies already. She seemed to be well on the way to finishing off even more of them as they watched. Oswin then noticed that the house was gone and turned to glare at Marissa and the others.

"I wanted you to be safe. Why couldn't you just let me handle the Daleks by myself?" Oswin berated Marissa.

"Oh, I'm just funny that way. I prefer not to stand around while my friend's in danger," Marissa said with an eye roll.

"I appreciate that normally, but this time I don't need the distraction of having to worry about you being here. Get back in the TARDIS and go!" Oswin shouted.

"Make me!" Marissa said defiantly.

"EXTERMINATE THEM!" several of the Daleks said as they flew toward Marissa and the others.

"I think that they are going to decide that for you," Oswin said with a smirk.

"Exterminate this, you jumped up little pepper pot!" Koschei said as he pulled out his laser screwdriver and blew up one of the rapidly approaching Daleks.

Marissa released a fine mist from one of her bracelets, and another Dalek had its metal shell dissolve into dust leaving the Dalek inside of it to fall to the ground with a scream.

"That metal eating bacteria I've been saving for a rainy day came in handy after all," Marissa said with a grin.

"Having enough excitement now?" Koschei asked Molly with a snort.

Molly smiled and said, "This is awesome!" She was actually starting to enjoy this.

Koschei shook his head as he turned back to fighting Daleks and said to himself, "Humans! I'll never understand them."

The two Time Lords and their companions continued to fight off the incoming Daleks as Oswin dealt with the ones that had stayed. They were still very much determined to take her in dead or alive to their master.

She destroyed one Dalek with her gauntlets, and then jumped ahead five seconds in time and a few feet away to quickly destroy another one. Then she jumped ahead in time again to continue the process.

"ESTIMATE PROBABLE TIME AND PLACE OF TARGET'S NEXT APPEARANCE," one of the Daleks ordered the others.

The Daleks quickly estimated the time and location of Oswin's next probable appearance based on her previous pattern of attack. Many of them then gathered around that area and waited for her to appear. She surprised them all though by appearing directly behind them and blasting all of them into piles of rubble in a matter of seconds.

"That's what I expected you to do. I know how you think all too well," Oswin said with a grin.

The remaining Daleks started to fire on her, but she quickly jumped away before any of their blasts could hit her.

"Report!" Davros' voice said as he contacted the remaining Daleks.

"WE HAVE BEEN SO FAR UNSUCCESSFUL IN CAPTURING OSWIN OSWALD. SHE CONTINUES TO DEFY US. WE ARE STILL ENGAGING HER IN AN ATTACK AT THE MOMENT, BUT WE ARE TAKING MASSIVE CASUALTIES. NOW THE TIME LORDS KOSCHEI AND USHAS ARE AIDING HER AS WELL," one of the Daleks reported.

"I anticipated the intervention of the Rani, but the Master's arrival complicates things. In addition to being extremely dangerous, he may bring in the Bad Wolf or the Doctor, and that would make the capture of my little prize virtually impossible," Davros said.

He then turned to a Dalek next to him and ordered, "Send in my special assault team to keep the Time Lords busy and my best warrior to handle Miss Oswald."

"I OBEY!" the Dalek standing next to him answered.

Seconds later, several Daleks with massive guns in place of their gun stalks appeared to confront Koschei, Marissa, and the others.

"Who are they?" Janine asked in fear.

"The Hand of Davros. We've done it now. Davros has sent in his crack troops. These are his specially picked personal group of assassins. They get sent out if he absolutely positively wants someone dead," Marissa said.

"I remember them from the Time War. I always thought that he named them that because he was overcompensating for something. They were always sent out when Davros was feeling particularly anxious about something. He must think that he's about to lose Miss Oswald again," Koschei guessed correctly.

"He is if I can help it," Marissa vowed.

"ANNIHILATE THEM!" one of the Hand shouted.

"That's a switch. What happened to 'exterminate'?" Peri joked.

"Maybe they got bored and decided it was time for a little change," Tegan joked back.

The Hand of Davros began to open fire with their heavily modified guns, and energy bolts began to be shot out rapidly and efficiently like bullets out of a machine gun. Everyone had to scatter quickly to avoid being hit by the lethal blasts.

Oswin was about to go deal with them when she suddenly had troubles of her own. The Special Weapons Dalek appeared in front of her and began firing at her with his big cannon like gun. She was barely able to jump out of the way in time before its massive blast caught her.

It contained to fire on her and left her running for her life before its assault. She finally jumped ahead five seconds in time and wound up behind it. She blasted it from behind with every bit of power in her gauntlets.

She looked on in shock as the Dalek just turned around and started to fire at her again. It had been completely undamaged. Apparently Davros had improved on the thickness of its shell with her in mind.

"Oh, boy!" Oswin exclaimed as she jumped away from its attack again.

She knew that this fight had just gotten much harder now. She suddenly had no idea how to stop a Dalek that her best weapons couldn't even scratch!

**Next: Oswin versus the new and improved Special Weapons Dalek while Marissa, Koschei, and the others find out just what the Hand of Davros can really do.**


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

The Hand of Davros just kept firing their machine gun like energy weapons all over the place as they went all out to kill Oswin's friends. They had to quickly find shelter behind yet another rotted down abandoned house nearby in order to keep from being shot down. The Daleks' blasts kept bombarding the ancient structure and made it crack and break just a little bit more inside with each hit. They knew that it wouldn't be long before it would crumble, and then they would be left exposed to the Daleks' fire yet again with no cover.

Marissa and Koschei got together and brainstormed ideas in order to come up with a plan in what little time that they had left. No one else in the group could hear what they were saying over the sound of the Daleks' blasts. Tegan just hoped that whatever it was would be something good. She also hoped that it didn't rely on trusting Koschei to carry it out because she still didn't trust him at all despite what Marissa said.

Nyssa still hadn't said a word since Koschei had appeared, and that bothered Tegan a lot. She had never seen her this quiet before, and she was sure that wasn't a good sign. Nyssa also kept looking at Koschei like she wanted to kill him and was staring holes in the back of everyone else's head when they weren't looking. She hoped that Nyssa wasn't having a mental breakdown or something. She hadn't been acting right at all lately. She reminded Tegan of the way that Nyssa said that she had acted when she had been possessed by the Mara, an evil being who had nearly taken her over twice.

"Your friend is acting very strangely. Are you sure that she isn't shell shocked or something?" Peri asked Tegan.

"I don't know. I've never seen her like this before, but then again I have no idea what she's been doing in the years since I last saw her. She may have changed a great deal since then," Tegan said worried.

"We'll just have to keep an eye out for her and try to find out if she needs some help later on once all of this is over," Peri said.

"You're awfully confident, aren't you? You're already so sure that we're going to survive this," Tegan noted with a smile.

"Not really, but I can't allow for any other outcome. Not with Janine here," Peri said as she watched Janine like a hawk.

Tegan understood. Peri couldn't even consider the possibility of her daughter having anything happen to her. She had to think positively whether it made sense considering the facts or not.

Despite her hatred of the idea of being a babysitter, Molly stayed close to Janine the entire time and kept trying to protect her from any flying debris from the building's rapid destruction as much as possible. She didn't want to guard the girl full-time, but she also didn't want anything to happen to her either. She had grown to think of her like a little sister in the short amount of time that she had come to know her.

The building received a massive blow that left pieces of it flying everywhere, and one particularly large piece went flying towards Janine's head. Peri screamed and started to run to help her. She saw to her immense relief though that Molly was already on the job. She had instinctively pushed Janine to the ground and thrown herself on top of her to protect her just before she would have been hit.

"Thank you!" Peri shouted at Molly who smiled back at her.

When Janine hugged her tightly in gratitude, and she could feel her shaking with fear; Molly suddenly didn't hate being a babysitter so much anymore. She still wanted to have adventures with Oswin, and she would if she had her way. That didn't mean that she wasn't going to keep an eye out for her newly adopted kid sister though. She wanted to make sure that she was safe almost as much as her mother did.

Marissa watched all of this with guilt eating up her insides. This had all been her fault. If she hadn't followed that woman into a trap, none of this would be happening now. She just hoped that what she and Koschei were about to do would get them out of this. She didn't see Oswin being able to help them any time soon. She was in way over her head with a seemingly indestructible Special Weapons Dalek in her face.

Oswin still kept glancing at her friends out of the corner of her eye to make sure that they were alright. So far none of them had gotten hurt, but Janine had come close. She couldn't let this continue, or their luck was going to run out soon. She did have an idea on how to stop this new and improved engine of destruction that Davros had sent after her. She just hoped that it would work. It would take some time for it to go into effect. She just hoped that her friends would be okay until then.

Truly, it was all that she could do to keep one step ahead of the extremely powerful foe as it kept blasting huge holes into everything around them in its zeal to kill her. She had to keep jumping around in time and space in order to avoid being instantly disintegrated by the blast of its huge gun turret. None of her weapons seemed to have any effect on the monstrosity whatever.

Marissa could see that Oswin was getting nowhere fast so she decided to finally put her plan into action with her fingers crossed. It was a human habit that she had picked up years ago and still clung to even now. It couldn't hurt after all. Every little bit of luck helped in her opinion.

"Ready?" Marissa asked Koschei.

"Always. Are you sure about this? I don't care what happens to me but . . . ," Koschei started to say when Marissa put a finger on his lips.

"Let's not ruin your bad guy image by saying that you don't want me to get hurt. People might think that you've developed feelings for me or something. You can't have that," Marissa said with a grin.

"You're right. Who would run from me in terror any more then?" Koschei quipped.

The two of them then turned deadly serious and kissed each other as if it would be their last. Each of them feared that it might be.

They nodded at each other then and sprang into action. Marissa planned to unleash a deadly virus that she genetically modified to only affect Daleks and nothing else. The virus would soon kill any Dalek around within half an hour. There were only two problems with this plan. She had to get within touching distance of them in order to spray them with the virus because it died quickly once it was exposed to air thanks to her modification of it, and she had to survive long enough for it to kill them.

Koschei had to provide her with cover fire using his laser screwdriver and Tissue Compression Eliminator while she concentrated on not getting herself killed long enough to spray the Hand of Davros with the virus. She had to keep moving quickly in order to avoid being killed by the rapid fire of the Daleks' weapons and would have no time to use any weapons of her own to defend herself with.

Marissa managed to evade all of their rapid attacks as Koschei took down any Daleks that came too close to her. She drew closer and closer to them and was almost within range to unleash the virus when the Daleks suddenly changed tactics all at once.

"ACTIVATE ALTERNATIVE WEAPONS," one of the Daleks ordered the others.

Before Marissa even had time to wonder what these weapons were, she could see the answer right in front of her face as the Daleks started spraying deadly acid all around them through their guns instead of energy.

The acid was being sprayed all over the area at high pressure like water from a hose. Some of it touched Marissa's arm, and she screamed in pain. She looked down just for a second to see that part of her arm had been eaten through to the bone! Her arm had already started healing due to her Time Lord physiology, but she still had good cause to worry. If any of that acid reached her hearts, then she would die for good.

Some of the Daleks now began to switch to a different weapon as they started to shoot out a projectile weapon that started out as a ball but then quickly expanded into an electrified net. A few Daleks switched back to the machine gun lasers, and others released a deadly gas into the atmosphere that would kill even a Time Lord for good if they were exposed to enough of it.

The Daleks just kept switching to different weaponry at random times and intervals so that Marissa never knew what to expect. She managed to keep herself from being hit or ensnared for several minutes, but then she was caught by surprise by an electrified net from one Dalek and then exposed to a massive burst of acid from another one!

Marissa felt like she was dying and knew that she could wait no longer. She finally unleashed her virus. She hadn't quite made it to the best place in order to expose all of the Daleks to it at once, but she was sure that she would at least take most of them with her when she passed on.

Oswin saw in horror what had happened to her best friend and knew that she had finally run out of time to finish the Daleks off. She had to act now in order to have any chance of saving everyone. She had thought of something that she hoped would work, and she had been slowly attempting it all of this time. She wasn't sure if it would be successful or not, but she had to try.

"Special Weapons Dalek, destroy the Hand of Davros! Exterminate them! Attack only them, and no one else. Do you understand?" Oswin ordered.

"I OBEY, EMPRESS!" the Special Weapons Dalek said as it began to fire on the other Daleks now.

It had worked. Oswin had hacked into the Dalek Net and used it to reprogram the Special Weapons Dalek to obey her instead of Davros. Davros had put up numerous firewalls and encryptions to prevent her from ever being able to hack the net again, but she had done it. It had taken a while to go into effect; and she hadn't been sure if it was going to work or not, but so far so good.

"I am good," Oswin said to herself with a wide grin.

The Special Weapons Dalek and Oswin then teamed up and started to annihilate the Hand of Davros. Koschei rushed in and pulled Marissa to safety as the Daleks were distracted by this new threat.

Koschei's eyes were rapidly filling with tears as he saw that Marissa was badly burned and some parts of her skeleton were showing. He knew that she was in great pain, but she wasn't letting it show at all. She wasn't even wincing as he inspected her wounds.

"I don't think that I'm going to make it through this one," Marissa said weakly.

"Shut up. You're not going to die, do you hear me? You're not!" Koschei shouted at the top of his lungs.

Tegan looked at him in complete surprise and suddenly saw him with new eyes. She could tell that he was in deep pain. He cared. He actually cared about Marissa.

"You stupid man. Nothing can save me. My hearts were both hit by the acid. It's only a matter of time now," Marissa said as she stroked his face with what was left of her right hand.

Koschei started to glow with regenerative energy, and he moved toward her. He was going to sacrifice as many lives as he had to in order to save hers.

"No, don't. It's already too late now. You'll be wasting your lives because it won't work," Marissa said.

"Shut up," Koschei said as he kissed her.

He was prepared to sacrifice all of his lives including his current one if he had to. He was just about to start pouring out all of his life force into her body when he heard Oswin yelling at him to stop.

Koschei turned to see that many of the Hand of Davros had either been totally destroyed or turned into smoking blackened shells by the formidable duo of Oswin and the Special Weapons Dalek. The ones that they didn't kill had been finished off by Marissa's virus. It had taken effect much quicker than even Marissa had thought that it would. Oswin was now moving towards him with concern written all over her face.

"She's going to die if I don't do this," Koschei said in a shaky voice that was full of emotion.

"Is there any way that you can quickly heal a Time Lady?" Oswin asked her new Dalek servant.

"THE REGENERATIVE ELEMENT," the Special Weapons Dalek answered.

"Which is?' Oswin asked.

"IT IS AN EXPERIMENTAL CHEMICAL COMPOUND FILLED WITH NANOTECHNOLOGY THAT INSTANTLY HEALS ALL DAMAGE DONE TO A DALEK EITHER TO ITS ORGANIC OR INORGANIC PARTS," the Special Weapons Dalek replied.

"Let me guess. You've been coated with this chemical both inside and out," Oswin guessed. That explained why she couldn't damage him no matter how hard she had tried.

"CORRECT. THE COMPOUND HEALS ALL DAMAGE DONE TO A DALEK SO QUICKLY THAT IT LOOKS AS IF NO DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE AT ALL," the Special Weapons Dalek said.

"Do you have any of this compound left and can it be used on a Time Lord?" Oswin asked hopefully.

"AFFIRMATIVE TO BOTH INTERROGATIVES," the Special Weapons Dalek answered.

"Give it to me," Oswin ordered.

Oswin took the small vial that the Dalek gave to her and poured it all over Marissa. Marissa was instantly completely healed all over her body. It was as if she had never been touched.

"This is amazing!" Marissa exclaimed.

"How long does this effect last?" Oswin asked curiously.

"THE EFFECT IS PERMANENT. SUBJECT BECOMES IMPERVIOUS TO MOST TYPES OF DAMAGE FOR THE REMAINER OF THEIR LIFESPANS," the Special Weapons Dalek said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know," Oswin said as she looked at Marissa in horror.

"It's okay. I don't see any downside to being able to not be hurt anymore and to instantly heal from any wound," Marissa said grinning.

"IF SUBJECT IS A TIME LORD, THE SUBJECT COULD POTENTIALLY LIVE FOREVER SINCE THE SUBJECT WOULD BE PREVENTED FROM DYING BY MOST CAUSES INCLUDING OLD AGE AS COMPOUND PREVENTS CELLULAR DECAY. REGENERATION NOW NO LONGER REQUIRED," the Special Weapons Dalek said.

"I would live forever?" Marissa asked, now suddenly unsure of her new status.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know," Oswin said with sadness.

"Maybe the Dalek is wrong," Koschei said.

"INCORRECT. ALL EVIDENCE POINTS TO THE COMPOUND BEING 100% EFFECTIVE," the Special Weapons Dalek said.

"Really? Then why haven't any other Daleks been using it before now," Koschei asked skeptically.

"COMPOUND HAS ONLY JUST NOW BEEN PERFECTED. IT HAS ONLY BEEN USED ONCE. IT HAS NOT GONE INTO WIDESPREAD USE YET. COMPOUND'S INITIAL USE WAS TO DETERMINE ITS EFFECTIVENESS IN THE FIELD. IF SUCCESSFUL AS ALL RESEARCH SUGGESTS, ALL DALEKS WILL BE COATED WITH IT," the Special Weapons Dalek answered.

"I can't let that happen. I'll have to do something about that," Oswin said.

She went on the Dalek Net and falsely reported the Special Weapons Dalek killed by the compound failing and allowing it to be destroyed. Then just to make sure that it couldn't be used anymore, Oswin changed the chemical formula. She committed the real one to memory though for future use and also stored it on a memory stick. She hoped that that put an end to the chilling possibility of an army of invincible Daleks once and for all.

She then decided to go one step further and reported that she had been killed along with all of the other Daleks. She knew that Davros would probably figure out what she had done eventually, but for now she was free from the threat of being attacked by Daleks everywhere that she went again.

"You have a name now. I'm going to call you Dalek Omega," Oswin said.

"OMEGA," the newly christened Dalek said as he tested out his new name.

"Hello, Omega. Welcome to the revolution! I have some new friends for you to meet soon that are just like you," Oswin said with a cheery smile.

She then noticed Aeywn lying on the ground dead, and her smile quickly faded. She had been just enough of a Dalek to be unintentionally killed by Marissa's virus. She felt sorry for whomever she had been once.

"Are you okay, Marissa?" Oswin asked with concern as she turned her attention back to her friend now.

"I think that I will be. Lily's immortal, and she seems fine," Marissa said in a positive tone.

"Lily's nuts," Koschei said bluntly.

"She is not. She has mental problems sometimes, but that's thanks to Rassilon," Marissa said.

"Are you sure it can all be blamed on that and not the fact that she's lived for at least a million years?" Koschei asked honestly.

"I don't know," Marissa said uncertainly.

"I'm sorry," Oswin said again.

"You didn't know. I don't blame you," Marissa said.

"I do. Come on, Omega. Let's go meet your new brothers. Maybe they could help me to find out if the compound is really as good as you say it is," Oswin said.

"Wait just one minute. I'm going with you this time," Molly demanded.

"Fine. Let's go then, Mol. I just hope that you aren't squeamish about being around a lot of Daleks. You're soon about to be surrounded by them," Oswin warned.

"It's fine by me as long as they're answering to you. You're not leaving me this time, and don't call me Mol!" Molly said grumpily.

"Yes, your highness. Let's go then," Oswin said as she touched Dalek Omega with one hand and Molly with the other and prepared to use her temporal shift to leave with the two of them.

She was going to find some way of fixing what she had done to Marissa. She had to. She wasn't going to condemn her friend to live forever if she could help it.

**Next: As Oswin goes to her Dalek resistance movement for help to fix Marissa, an old enemy of the Doctor's appears to attack the others. In the next chapter, a special guest star shows up to help them fight a menace that should be very familiar to fans of the Fifth Doctor.**


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place before the last few chapters of War of the Guardians.**

Oswin, Molly, and Dalek Omega appeared at the secret headquarters of the Dalek Resistance Movement on the planet of Peladon. The Queen of Peladon, Erimem, had agreed to let the Daleks stay here in a secret location hidden in one of Peladon's mountains.

Their secret base was well protected against being found by the other Daleks by a variety of stealth technologies that Oswin had borrowed from the Time Lords, the Daleks, the Great and Bountiful Human Empires of the future, the Cybermen, and even from old Dalek studies of the inhabitants of Spiridon. Just to make sure, Oswin and the Resistance Daleks had also used dwarf star alloy in creating the base. She had heard of the other Daleks doing the same with their bases when they wanted to stay well hidden and had decided to take their idea and use it to protect her Daleks.

Oswin had to laugh at the thought of thinking of any Daleks as hers. She had come to think of them as exactly that though. She had once hated all Daleks with a passion, but now the Daleks of the resistance had become like friends to her. She felt totally at ease among them and even found herself attempting to joke with them with little success on occasion. Daleks had no sense of humor after all.

Molly looked at all of the Daleks now surrounding them and began to look very uncomfortable. Oswin knew that she shouldn't have brought her here, but she did insist on coming. Oswin liked Molly, but she hated how she seemed to almost want to run eagerly into situations where she might get herself killed. It was almost as if she wanted to die, and that bothered Oswin a lot because she didn't know why or what she could do about it.

"They won't bother you," Oswin said to Molly with a hand on her shoulder.

"I know that, but that still doesn't make me feel any better. I'm still panicked by being around this many of them after what they did to my . . . I just feel very uneasy around even so-called friendly Daleks after what they did to my home town. I'll get over it. Don't worry," Molly assured her.

Oswin wasn't assured by this at all though. She had a feeling that Molly was keeping something from her. Something dark that caused her to be so reckless and nonchalant about putting herself in harm's way. She was going to have to dig that secret out of her later, but not now. Now was the time to see how her Daleks were doing, and then to ask them if they knew of any way to help her with fixing Marissa.

As Oswin and Molly approached the meeting area where Dalek Epsilon ran the resistance, the other Daleks around them began to stop whatever they were doing and hold their eye stalks up as though they were saluting them.

"EMPRESS IS IN THE BASE. ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS OF THE DALEKS!" the gathered Daleks began to chant in unison.

"Hey! I thought I told you that I am not your Empress. My name is Oswin Oswald. I'm your friend, and I want to help you to become something better, something great. I am not your Empress though. I don't want to be. I want you to lead yourselves. I want you to learn to think for yourselves and not to rely on anyone else to tell you what to do or how to feel," Oswin said passionately.

"IT IS A SHOW OF OUR RESPECT FOR YOU THAT WE NAME YOU AS SUCH. WE DO NOT WISH TO CAUSE YOU ANY OFFENSE," Dalek Epsilon explained as he approached Oswin.

"No offense is taken, Dalek Epsilon. I just cringe whenever any of you calls me that. It makes me uncomfortable," Oswin said.

"WE WILL ENDEAVOR TO STOP THEN," Dalek Epsilon said.

"Good. So how are things going? Is everything okay here? I brought a new recruit by the way. Say hello, Dalek Omega," Oswin said as she introduced the two Daleks to each other.

"I FIGHT IN THE NAME OF THE EMPRESS," Dalek Omega said as he addressed Dalek Epsilon for the first time.

"ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS!" The other Daleks chanted.

Oswin groaned and put her head in her hands. Molly began to laugh and suddenly felt a lot less scared here than she had before. These Daleks were almost humorous to her now.

"It looks like you've got your own little cheering section here. No wonder you like to come and visit them. They must really lift your spirits and prop up your ego on bad days. I could use someone calling me Empress every once in a while too," Molly admitted with a sad look.

"DALEKS ARE SLOW TO LEAVE BEHIND OLD WAYS OF THINKING," Dalek Epsilon said in way of apology to Oswin.

"That's okay. I knew that going into this. I'll just have to keep working on it. Even the Daleks can change. I'm certain of that," Oswin said.

"WE WILL TRY, OSWIN," Dalek Epsilon said.

Molly looked at Dalek Epsilon in wonder. This Dalek didn't seem to be anything like the other Daleks at all. He seemed to be almost human in some ways.

Oswin smiled at Epsilon as she said, "That's the first time that you've called me by my name. Thank you!"

"I LIVE TO SERVE YOU, EMP. . . I MEAN YOU ARE WELCOME, OSWIN," Epsilon said in an almost chagrined voice.

Oswin laughed at him and patted his shell affectionately. She had grown fond of this one particular Dalek. He had been the first one that she had reprogrammed when she had the idea of starting the resistance movement. He had been with her helping her all the way ever since and had become her second in command of the whole organization.

"It's okay, Eppy. You're allowed a little slip up every now and then," Oswin said with a snicker.

"I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT ALL GOES WELL IN OUR MOVEMENT. WE HAVE ADDED MANY NEW MEMBERS RECENTLY, AND WE SEEM TO BE GROWING IN STRENGTH. THE RECENT INFILTRATION BY THE SHADOW HAS WEAKENED THE MAIN GROUP OF DALEKS AS WELL AND HAS MADE MANY OTHERS WITHIN THEIR RANKS DISSATISFIED WITH THE DIRECTION IN WHICH DAVROS IS TAKING THEM. THEY WISH TO FIND A NEW DIRECTION AND A NEW LEADER. I HAVE GLADLY BEEN TELLING THEM ABOUT YOU," Epsilon said.

"You're the leader not me. I just help," Oswin said.

"I RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE. YOU ARE THE HEART AND SOUL OF THIS MOVEMENT. WITHOUT YOU, IT WOULD NOT EXIST," Epsilon argued.

"Let's just agree to disagree for the moment, Eppy. Right now, I need your help. I have a friend who has been exposed to the Regenerative Element and has now been made immortal. Is there any way to make her normal again? I want all of you to put your heads together and help me come up with an answer," Oswin pleaded.

"THE REGENERATIVE ELEMENT? IT WAS REPORTED AS A FAILURE," Epsilon said in what almost sounded like confusion.

"It was, wasn't it?" Oswin said with a mischievous grin.

"I SEE. YOU HAVE BEEN UP TO YOUR USUAL TRICKERY THEN. DO YOU HAVE A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL FORMULA? YOU HAVE PROBABLY CHANGED WHAT IS ON THE DALEK NET ALREADY," Epsilon asked.

"You know me so well. Here it is. Use it to see if you can find a way to change my friend back to normal. Dalek Omega was there when I used it on her so he can fill you in on any other details that you might need to know. You could also use it on the resistance as well in order to give us an advantage in battle. I'll leave that up to you though," Oswin said as she handed him the memory stick with the true formula of the Regenerative Element on it.

"I WILL DO WHAT I CAN. GIVE US A FEW DAYS TO WORK ON IT," Epsilon said.

I know that you'll do your best. I'll see you later then. Come on, Molly. We've got to get back to the others," Oswin said as she grabbed Molly's shoulder.

The two women then vanished as Oswin's temporal shift took them back to Marissa's TARDIS.

"GOOD BYE, EMPRESS," Epsilon said after she had left.

Epsilon still thought of her as his Empress whether she liked it or not. She was much more than that to him though. She was also his friend. He would gladly die for her and so would the other Daleks in the resistance. Each and every one of them were there because of her. She didn't believe that she was the leader of this movement, but she was in every way. She was its inspiration. The other Daleks here all believed in her vision of a future where the Daleks were not feared but a major force for universal peace and harmony instead, and so did Epsilon. He would gladly storm Skaro itself for her. In fact, he looked forward to it.

As Oswin and Molly were busy with the Epsilon and the resistance, Marissa was still trying to wrap her mind around her new change in circumstances. She stared ahead blankly sometimes as she tried to process what had just happened to her. Koschei kept trying to talk to her, but it didn't really help that much. It was still a lot to get over suddenly finding yourself immortal after all.

"I feel so bad for her," Tegan admitted to Peri as the two of them stood watching the two Time Lords.

"It doesn't seem so bad to me. I think it might be kind of nice. Being immortal," Peri said.

"Why should it be her?" Nyssa asked with a hate filled voice.

Tegan looked at her in surprise. This was the first time that she had spoken since Koschei had appeared. Tegan had been very worried about her, and now that worry just jumped up a notch. That hadn't sounded like Nyssa talking at all just now.

"What are you talking about?" Tegan asked.

"Why should she be immortal? His girlfriend gets to be immortal while my father is long dead thanks to him. All of my people are destroyed, and my home is gone thanks to him. Yet he gets rewarded while I have to continue to suffer," Nyssa said with pure hatred.

Tegan looked at her in horror. Nyssa had never been this way at all. She had hardly ever mentioned her grief to any of her friends. She had never let grief and anger eat her up like this when she knew her. She had always tried to help others and deal with her pain in a positive way. She hadn't wanted anyone else to have to go through what she had.

Nyssa had never tried to seek revenge on the Master either for what he had done. Tegan had always thought highly of Nyssa for that. She wasn't so sure that she would feel the same way given the same circumstances. She still hadn't forgiven him for killing her Aunt Vanessa after all.

She had seen that he had indeed changed since she had known him, but that still didn't exonerate him for what he had done in her book. Not in the slightest.

She didn't understand how a good woman like Marissa could put up with him. Peri had told her that Marissa used to be just as bad as Koschei, but she had had a hard time believing that. The woman that she had been traveling with seemed to be very kind and caring. She was nothing at all like the Master.

"What's wrong with you, Nyssa? This isn't you," Tegan said.

"How would you know? I haven't seen you in years. Maybe I've changed. Maybe I'm not lovable, sweet naïve little Nyssa anymore like I used to be when you knew me. Maybe I've grown up. I've finally seen the world for what it is. It's hard and cold and wants to reward the evil and punish the good. Maybe it's time for me to do something about that," Nyssa said with undisguised hate in her voice now.

"Nyssa?" Tegan asked as she began to doubt her friend's sanity now.

"What's happening to her?" Peri asked in fear.

She began to worry for Janine's safety as she wondered if Nyssa might start attacking them now. She seemed like she had gone crazy.

Nyssa pulled Koschei's Tissue Compression Eliminator out of her pocket and pointed it at him and Marissa. The two of them were still too wrapped up in Marissa's situation to even notice her yet though. She would have to change that.

"It's time that you have to answer for what you've done!" Nyssa screamed as she pointed Koschei's own weapon at him.

The two Time Lords looked at her in complete surprise, and Koschei moved in front of Marissa protectively without even realizing that he was doing it.

"Where did you get that? I had that in my room," Koschei asked.

"I broke into your room and took it without leaving any trace that I had ever been there. I'm highly intelligent if you'll remember," Nyssa said.

"Listen, Nyssa. I can understand why you're doing this. I deserve it I know. What I did to your father and your people was unforgivable. I know that. If you want to kill me, I won't stop you. Just don't hurt Marissa. She had nothing to do with anything that I did. Leave her alone, and I'll let you do whatever you want with me," Koschei said.

"Oh, so noble now, aren't you? What a change! As if that makes up for any of it. I will kill you, and then I will find a way to kill your little girlfriend there too. Maybe I'll keep you around though, Tegan. For old times' sake," Nyssa said as she winked at Tegan.

"Nyssa, what is wrong with you? You seemed alright before when I first met you again. What happened?" Tegan asked.

"You did, Tegan. You brought her to me. I could no longer affect you, but I had a new host now to inhabit thanks to you. One with a lingering buried resentment of the Master that I could use to enter her with. Thanks to you I have a better host now than you ever were. She's perfect for my needs," Nyssa said in a voice that was not hers. It was an evil, malevolent one that sounded almost like a snake's.

"The Mara," Tegan said with recognition and fear.

The Mara was a horrible snake-like being that entered others through their dreams and possessed them. Tegan had been possessed by the Mara several times during her travels with the Doctor. She hadn't felt its presence in a long time though. She had thought that it had been destroyed for good. It appeared that she was wrong.

"Hello, Tegan. It's been so long, hasn't it? You thought that you got rid of me that last time on Manussa, didn't you? You were wrong though. I've merely been lying dormant in your mind all of this time recovering my strength and waiting for the right moment to reemerge once more. Your will has become too strong for me to control anymore, but Nyssa is a different story. She hasn't had years to become used to resisting me. She's got no mental defenses whatsoever that are good enough to stand against me. I will use her to kill the Time Lords, and then I will take their ship. I will spread chaos and destruction through all of time and space, and then I will feed off the resulting misery that follows just as I have always done," the Mara speaking through Nyssa boasted.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that," a voice said from behind Tegan.

She turned to see a blonde woman dressed in what looked like a pink lady's outfit from the fifties. She had no idea who she was, but she seemed to radiate power and strength. Tegan automatically started feeling like everything was going to be alright now. She hadn't felt that calm and relaxed in a long time. Not since she had traveled with the Doctor.

"You cannot stop me, Arkytior. I have grown in power since we last met," the Mara said, but its words were undermined by its slightly trembling voice.

"If you haven't noticed, so have I," Rose Tyler said as she began to glow with golden energy.

Tegan was taken aback by this. This was new. Just who was this woman, and why did it seem like the Mara was afraid of her? The Mara had never seemed to be afraid of anyone, not even the Doctor.

It was then that Oswin and Molly returned just in time to witness that the console room had seemed to go crazy. Sweet, gentle Nyssa was pointing a TCE at Koschei while Rose was having a staring contest with her.

"Did I miss something?" Oswin said.

"Face it, Oswin. Without you, this whole place just falls apart," Molly joked.

Oswin just glared at her. This whole situation could quickly go downhill at any second, and she was making jokes. She was going to have to talk to her soon and find out what was wrong with her. For now though, she had to see if she could keep this from blowing up in everyone's face.

**Next: Oswin and Rose must work together to stop the Mara before it can use Marissa's TARDIS to spread chaos and destruction throughout all of time and space.**


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

I do not own Doctor Who or the Incredible Hulk, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place before the last few chapters of War of the Guardians.**

"Will someone please tell me what is going on here?" Oswin asked.

"Very interesting! You seem to be a temporal anomaly. You shouldn't even exist in this timeline, and yet here you are. You always were overly sentimental, Arkytior. I recognize your handiwork when I see it. To answer your question, I am the Mara. I am temporarily borrowing the body of your friend, Nyssa. I need her to kill each and every one of you so that I can have this magnificent ship all to myself," the Mara said.

"You're not killing anyone," Oswin promised.

Oswin suddenly put her force field around everyone but herself and Rose. She was going to make sure that she protected them from the Mara's attacks. Oswin smiled as the Mara glared at her.

"It doesn't matter. All I have to do is destroy you, and they will be mine to do with as I please," the Mara said.

"That's easier said than done. Just ask the Daleks," Oswin joked.

"What do I care about the opinions of flying pepper pots? I will destroy them as well once I have complete control over all of time and space," the Mara threatened.

The Mara suddenly whirled around and blasted Oswin with the Master's Tissue Compression Eliminator. Only she had vanished already, and the only thing that was shrunken was a chair in the console room instead.

"That was my favorite chair!" Marissa said in agitation.

"I'm . . . ," Oswin said as she reappeared only to time jump again when the Mara shot at her with the TCE.

"Sorry . . . ," Oswin continued as she reappeared again this time closer to the Mara and jumped once again before she could be hit by the TCE.

"Mari," Oswin finished as she reappeared right next to the Mara and kicked the TCE out of its hand.

"Sacrifices must be made sometimes though," Oswin said as she then blasted the Mara in the face with her gauntlets at their maximum stun setting.

The Mara fell to the ground unconscious; and Oswin said, "Well, that wasn't so hard. I was expecting much more of a challenge than that."

"You did not just say that!" Rose said with a groan.

Oswin winced as she realized that she had just tempted fate. That was never a good idea.

"I wouldn't want to let you down, little anomaly. Here I am," the Mara said now through Koschei's body.

"Wonderful," Rose said as she realized that things had just gotten even worse.

The Mara, now in Koschei's body, pulled out the laser screwdriver and pointed it at Oswin. Oswin easily absorbed its blast with her force field. Luckily, she had managed to place it back around herself just in the nick of time.

"You'll have to do better than that," Oswin said laughing.

"Okay. How about this?" the Mara said through the mouths of Koschei, Marissa, Peri, Janine, and Molly at the same time.

"Oh, great. The Mara's sunken it's claws into everybody now. It's all my fault. I should have known that it was still inside of me," Tegan said in frustration.

"I have been slowly gaining control of everyone that you've been around, Tegan. I now have the entire crew under my command," the Mara said through Marissa this time.

"Except me. Why haven't you taken over me yet?" Oswin asked.

The Mara remained silent but looked at Rose with eyes full of hatred for a minute. Rose stuck her tongue out at the ancient evil and gave it a silly smile.

"You're protecting me?" Oswin asked Rose.

"More like your very nature is. You don't belong in this timeline, so the Mara has no ability to control you. You're a free agent in the universe because the universe has no plan for you. You were never meant to be here at all. That means that the major powers of this universe can't affect you at least not directly," Rose explained.

"When were you planning on telling me this?" Oswin asked in irritation.

"Never. I was hoping to let you have as normal a life as possible," Rose said.

"You should have told me. I deserved to know," Oswin said.

"You're right. I'm sorry. You were a little preoccupied with being a Dalek at the time though so I didn't want to add to your worries," Rose said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It does kind of make me feel like a freak now that I know about it," Oswin admitted.

"That's another reason I didn't tell you. I knew that you'd get like this. You're not a freak so don't even start with all of the self-pity talk," Rose said.

"Can we discuss this later? The Mara has taken over the entire crew. Isn't that a little more important right now?" Tegan said.

"Oh, do continue. I'm enjoying watching this little show. It's like a real life soap opera. I've already won anyway so I have all of the time in the world," the Mara said through Peri's mouth this time.

"What makes you think that?" Rose asked with a malevolent smile as his hands glowed with energy.

Rose made a single gesture at everyone that the Mara had possessed, and they were all suddenly free from its control. They looked around them in confusion as if they had just woken up from a dream.

"How did you do that?" Tegan asked in astonishment.

"I can do a lot of neat little tricks like that. It helps to have the power of the Time Vortex at your command. Otherwise, those tricks really wouldn't work quite so well. I'd just be standing here looking stupid," Rose joked.

"Your posturing and back patting does make you look stupid, Arkytior. Your victory celebration is premature because you haven't won yet. Far from it! For you see, the crew isn't the only one that I have possessed," the Mara's voice said as it seemed to come from all around them now.

"Oh, no!" Oswin said as she realized just where the Mara was now.

"What's going on?" Tegan asked.

"Think about it. The Mara can possess the mind of any living creature, Tegan," Rose said.

"It's not possessing us though so where is it at now?" Tegan asked, still not getting it.

"You're forgetting that we're not the only living creatures here," Oswin said.

Tegan's eyes went wide as she realized just where the Mara was now.

"It's in the TARDIS! It took over the TARDIS!" Tegan said in fear.

"You're a little slow on the uptake sometimes, aren't you?" Rose joked.

"How can you joke at a time like this? What's wrong with you? For that matter, who are you anyway; and how do you know my name?" Tegan demanded in a loud voice.

"The Doctor told me that you once called yourself a 'mouth on legs', and now I know why," Rose said with a wide grin.

"You're the Doctor's wife, aren't you? You're Rose Tyler. I never would have known. You're nothing like any of the other Time Lords that I've ever met. You just seem so human," Tegan said in amazement.

"That's the nicest thing that you could have ever said to me. I can already tell that I'm going to like you a lot," Rose said happily.

"We don't have time for this, Rose. The Mara has control over the TARDIS. It can easily kill us now," Oswin worried.

"Naw, it'll play with us some first. Especially me. It really hates me," Rose said.

"Why is that? I noticed before that the Mara seemed to be afraid of you," Tegan said.

"I met it once a long time ago back on Gallifrey. Let's just say that it made me angry. Very, very angry! You wouldn't like me when I'm angry," Rose said in a serious voice as her eyes darkened.

Tegan seemed taken aback by that and started to actually look afraid.

"So it's a good thing I'm so happy and cheerful most of the time. I'd never hurt my friends anyway so don't worry about it," Rose said as she suddenly regained her smile.

"Yeah, sure," Tegan said nervously.

"You should be more worried about me than the Bad Wolf, Tegan. I can finally strike back at you now. I don't even have to try hard. All I have to do is to suck the oxygen out of the room slowly. A little bit at a time. Can you feel it, Tegan? It's getting harder and harder to breathe, isn't it?" the Mara taunted.

Everyone but Rose was having trouble catching their breath as the atmosphere in the console room began to slowly change.

"What about me, Mara? I don't have to breathe. Not since I became the Bad Wolf. This won't affect me," Rose said.

"Oh, but it will. You get to watch them all die. I know you of old, Arkytior. That will affect you worse than anything else that I could do to you. Very soon now, you will get to stand by helplessly and watch them as they gasp for a final breath that will never come!" the Mara said with laughter.

Oswin put a force field around herself and the others so that some of the oxygen would be contained for a while. That would stop the Mara from sucking it out, but at the same time it would only be temporary. The oxygen that was left would not last forever. Once it ran out, they would all die just like the Mara predicted.

Oswin and Rose looked at each other in silent communication, and they both knew that before the air ran out that she would have to use the Emergency Temporal Shift on herself and the others to escape and try to find help. She felt like a heel for even thinking about it, but she had to. She hated to leave Rose alone here with the TARDIS in the control of the Mara, but she would have no choice.

Oswin activated her time jumping ability and took herself and everyone else but Rose to safety. She was going to come back though. There was no way that she was leaving Rose there to face that thing all by herself.

**Next: Oswin returns to help Rose stop the Mara, but are they both already too late? Here's a hint: the Mara has much bigger things planned than just controlling a TARDIS. **


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place before the last few chapters of War of the Guardians.**

Oswin returned to Marissa's TARDIS to find that the console room had become a warzone. Rose was in full Bad Wolf mode while the Mara had opened the Heart of the TARDIS and was using its energy against her.

Vortex energy was flying everywhere, and Oswin had to put up her force field quickly to protect herself. She tried to move forward and help Rose in some way, but Rose shook her head in warning.

"Don't come any closer. You'll be torn apart by all of the energy flying through here. I was hoping that you wouldn't return," Rose said.

"I wasn't about to leave you all alone," Oswin said.

"That's sweet, but I don't want your life on my conscience. Just stay back," Rose said in concern.

"I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you. You saved me from being erased when the timelines changed. I'll gladly die to help you," Oswin said as she started forward again.

"Believe me, Oswin. Your death wouldn't help me at all. It would just be so unnecessary. I saved you because I didn't want you to never have been born. You're too good and kind a person to have never existed, and my changing the timelines from what they were originally supposed to be in order to save Amy and Rory from being lost in the past forever would have eventually condemned you to have never existed in the first place. I never wanted that. I didn't then, and I still don't want it to happen to you now," Rose said as she continued to fight with the Mara.

"How noble, Arkytior! It doesn't really matter though. Soon you will both die because soon every TARDIS in this universe will belong to me!" the Mara said with a laugh.

"What? What's it talking about?" Oswin asked.

"Marissa's TARDIS along with all of the other ones except the Doctor's and the Monk's are linked to each other in a kind of telepathic net which is ultimately monitored on Gallifrey by the Time Lords. This was established by the High Council recently so that they could keep track of them all and make sure that no one could steal one or misuse it. They thought of this little precaution after Lord President Heldrin came to power. The Doctor never liked it and Idris wouldn't have let herself be spied upon like that anyway so he managed to make sure that he wasn't on this telepathic net. The Monk rigged his TARDIS so that he could stay off of it too for obvious reasons. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now it might come back to bite everyone," Rose said.

"What do you mean?" Oswin asked again as she grew frustrated at being in the dark.

"I'm sorry. You're totally lost right now, and you hate it. I know what it's like to be in your shoes. I was there once. Okay, basically the Mara is trying to break into the telepathic net and spread its influence to all of the TARDISes at once. It will break into their minds and take them all over. Can you imagine the result of that? The Mara will essentially strand all of the Time Lords where they are right now. None of them will be able to travel in time and space. The Time Lords won't be the Lords of Time anymore. At least not until they come up with a way around it. They'd have to come up with a new way to time travel and quickly because the Mara would start using the TARDISes to cause trouble across time and space in order to feed itself," Rose explained.

"You mean that they're linked like the Daleks are then?" Oswin said with a grin as she started to understand now. She pulled out a small device and began to quickly push buttons on it.

"Exactly. I think it's a bad idea. I hate the idea of being watched like that, and now there's an even better argument against it," Rose said as she continued to contain the Mara's attacks so that they didn't reach Oswin.

"The Time Lords' shortsightedness will be their undoing. It's too late to stop me now. I am linking with the others already. Every TARDIS throughout time and space is now mine!" the Mara shouted to them in triumph.

Oswin began to have a huge smile on her face as she worked with the small device that she had pulled out earlier. Rose had noticed that a light bulb had seemed to go off in her head when she had mentioned the Dalek net earlier, and now it seemed that she had a plan in mind. She hoped that whatever it was that it worked quickly before the Mara had a chance to do any damage to the Web of Time.

"No! I cannot understand. It's too confusing. Shut up! Shut up! Stop talking! You're not making any sense!" the Mara began to scream.

"It makes perfect sense. Pay attention. You'd think that someone who had been around as long as you have would have more brains than you do. Come back here, Snake Being. We could do great things together. It's my name, silly," a very familiar voice said as it too started to come from all around them.

"What is? I don't understand you. You make no sense. I can't take you over. Your mind is too disorganized. It's too jumbled. My brain feels like it's on fire!" the Mara screamed in anguish.

"Idris?" Rose asked in joy.

"Who is Idris? What's going on here?" the Mara asked in complete and utter confusion.

"I just told you that Idris is my name a minute ago. Do try to keep up," Idris said with a chuckle.

"Keep away from me. You're destroying my mind! I can't think! I can't . . . ," the Mara said and then it suddenly stopped talking in mid-scream.

Suddenly the Mara let out one last agonizing scream as the Heart of the TARDIS closed. Rose looked at Oswin in suspicion while she laughed.

"What did you do?" Rose asked with a grin.

"I quickly asked Idris to come onto the telepathic net with my handy little device here after explaining the situation to her. This little gadget lets me hack into all kinds of computer systems, but it's also useful for just an easy way at communication with any and all computer networks no matter how well encrypted that they are. After I had a quick chat with her, Idris set herself loose inside of the net. I knew that the Mara wouldn't be able to resist the chance to take over the Doctor's TARDIS," Oswin said smiling wider and wider.

Rose began to look at her with her jaw on the floor as she said, "Oh, you're devious, you are! That's really, really evil!"

"I'm sure that the poor thing never knew what hit him!" Oswin said.

"I drove him away. He just couldn't stand talking to me. I have no idea why. I'm quite the conversationalist," Idris' voice said from all around them now.

"So the Mara is gone then?" Oswin asked.

"For now it is. It never seems to ever disappear forever though. It turns up again and again sooner or later. One thing's for sure. It'll never try to take over a TARDIS again!" Rose said laughing.

"At least not one particular TARDIS anyway," Oswin said as she laughed along with her.

"Her name is Lissa," Idris said interrupting.

"Whose name is Lissa?" Oswin asked confused.

"I'm just answering your question," Idris said.

"What question? I didn't ask a question," Oswin said now really confused.

"Not yet but you will. I just answered it for you well ahead of time. You'd think that you'd thank me but apparently not. Really! No sense of gratitude whatsoever!" Idris said in a miffed tone.

"She doesn't understand you, Idris. She isn't used to you yet," Rose explained with a smile.

"I suppose I am an acquired taste. I'll cut her some slack then just this once, My Wolf," Idris said with an amused tone in her voice.

"I'm sorry that I'm not quite up to your high standards of intellect then. Not all of us have your very unique insight into things. You see things in a very, very different way from those of us who have to be stuck in this one reality where common sense rules," Oswin said sarcastically.

Rose began to laugh as she realized what Oswin was really saying.

Idris, however, obviously didn't as she said, "Why thank you, Little Anomaly Girl! Finally one of you understands me! I think I'm going to like you after all."

"Well, thank goodness for that! That really makes my day," Oswin said.

"I imagine it does. Shehzadi," Idris said.

"What?" Oswin asked now confused again.

"That's Lissa's sister's name. You really are thick sometimes," Idris said in an annoyed voice.

"I still don't know who Lissa is!" Oswin said in anguish.

"I can't talk to her, Wolf. Maybe she'll figure it out herself in time, but I doubt it. I think that I should go now. The Little Anomaly Girl is starting to give me a headache," Idris said.

"I'm giving you a headache?!" Oswin asked in disbelief.

"I know you can't help it. I'm not blaming you. It's not your fault that you're so limited. You were born that way I suppose. He wants to keep you from taking over the Daleks," Idris said.

"Who does?" Oswin asked.

"The one who is coming back to life soon. He will return to destroy you. Be careful of him," Idris warned.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Oswin said worried.

"You will. I'll see you all around, or maybe I have seen you already. I never am quite sure. Hello!" Idris said.

"She's gone now," Rose said as she sensed Idris leaving.

"Good. She's a nutter, isn't she?" Oswin said.

"No. She's just used to thinking of time as all happening at once, and she can't understand why we experience it differently. She's really a sweet person once you get to know her," Rose said.

"I'll take your word for it. Well, I guess this is goodbye then. The Mara's gone, and the universe is as safe as it ever is," Oswin said sadly.

"I'll see you around, Oswin. Take care of yourself. Idris was trying to warn you about something. I'd keep a watch out for it, whatever it is, if I were you," Rose said.

"I'll do that. Thanks, Rose! You're always there for me," Oswin said as she hugged Rose tightly.

"No problem, Oswin. It's no problem at all. I'll always be there for my friends," Rose said warmly.

Rose left then in a burst of golden light, and the TARDIS soon landed itself as Marissa used her remote control to bring it to her. Marissa and the others were there waiting for her once she opened the doors of the TARDIS to the outside.

"Rose was just here. She popped in just long enough to tell me that the Mara was gone. She said it was all due to your sneaky thinking," Marissa said.

"I sent Idris after him. I figured if she drove me nuts and made me want to run away from her that she'd do the same to him," Oswin said with a chuckle.

"You are evil, do you know that?" Marissa asked as she put her arm around her friend.

"So I've been told," Oswin said with a wicked smile as the two of them went inside of Marissa's TARDIS followed by the others.

**Next: Oswin finds out who Idris was talking about as a woman from the future comes to have a talk with Marissa about a very sore subject. Readers of Jenny Tyler, Time's Angel will know right away who I'm talking about. **


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place right after the events of the Reunion of the Daleks storyline in It's Better With Two and during the current storyline in Jenny Tyler, Time's Angel starting in Chapter 35. **

Oswin was so tired after that whole affair with the Dalek Emperor having come back to life that all that she wanted to do was lay down for a week. She was planning on doing exactly that too. She was the only one on Marissa's TARDIS at the moment, and this meant that she might actually get some peace and quiet for a while in which to sleep in.

She still felt terrible that Rose had lost her powers because of the Emperor. She hoped that they might return to her someday. The universe needed Rose just the way that she had been before as far as Oswin was concerned.

She didn't realize until afterwards that this was what Idris had been trying to tell her about before. She had been telling her that the Dalek Emperor was going to come back to kill her. Why Idris just couldn't have come out and said that outright though was behind her. She still wondered what she had meant by the names of Lissa and Shehzadi. She would soon find out.

Oswin quickly feel asleep in her room on Marissa's TARDIS and had a strange dream. She had been having several of them lately, and this was the weirdest one yet. A woman that was her and yet wasn't her was telling a white haired old man that she somehow knew was the Doctor to steal a different TT Capsule than the one he had intended to steal.

He was leaving Gallifrey after the death of his wife. He wanted to steal his wife's old capsule that the museum she had donated it to had fully inherited after she had died. They had just had it put in the shop for repairs immediately after her death. Arkytior had prevented them from touching it while she was still alive because she had liked the old machine just the way that it was.

He had wanted to take hers in particular because he hadn't wanted them to have it since it had belonged to her, but he had picked the wrong one by mistake. Somehow Oswin or whoever the woman in the dream was had known that he was stealing the wrong one and had told him so. She knew that his wife would have wanted him to have it.

Oswin was suddenly woken out of this weird dream when she heard the front doors of the TARDIS open with a loud noise as if they had been slammed back. She immediately rushed to the Console Room to discover a strange young woman that she had never seen before standing in the doorway with an extremely angry expression on her face.

"Who are you, and how did you get in here?" Oswin asked her.

"I don't have time to play twenty questions, Aunt Oswin. I've come here all of the way from Florana while Jenny was busy to see my mother. I want to know where she is. She has some explaining to do," the woman said with a tone of incredible anger in her voice.

"I don't know who your mother is. I don't even know who you are," Oswin said.

"What are you talking about? You've seen me about a billion times throughout my life," the woman said in confusion.

Then she looked at Oswin closely and said, "You look different. You look so young."

Both of them then came to an epiphany about each other at around the same time.

"I forgot that I'm in the past. I just came straight here because I was so angry. My mother doesn't know me, and neither do you," the woman said sounding sad now instead of angry.

"Your name is Lissa, isn't it?" Oswin asked a second later.

"You do know me?" Lissa asked.

"No. I was told that you were coming though by a woman named Idris. I had no idea what she was talking about until now," Oswin explained.

"Oh, I know what you're saying now. Idris told you the future but not the exact details. She's done that to me before. It's very annoying," Lissa said with a smile as she began to calm down.

"Tell me about it. So who are you exactly, and why are you here?" Oswin asked.

"Like I said, my name's Lissa. I'm Marissa and Koschei's daughter from the future. I really shouldn't be here though. I haven't even been born yet. Just forget that I was ever here, okay?" Lissa said nervously.

Lissa turned to leave, but Oswin stopped her. She gently grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaving as she asked, "What did you come here about? You're very upset about something. I can tell that. Is it about your sister, Shehzadi?"

Lissa became visibly enraged at that name, and Oswin backed away from her in fear.

"What do you know about her?" Lissa asked in a hate-filled voice.

"Nothing. Idris just mentioned her name and that she was your sister," Oswin said as her body shook with nervous tension.

Lissa realized what she was doing to Oswin and quickly put on a warm smile as she said, "I'm so sorry. That is what I came here for, and it's why I'm so angry. It has nothing to do with you though. I didn't mean to show my dark side to you like that. I know that I can be pretty scary when I'm angry. I am my father's daughter after all. You would never have anything to fear from me though, Aunt Oswin. I promise."

"I'm glad about that. I'll just let you go then. Whatever is making you so angry is none of my business," Oswin said still nervous around her.

Oswin was surprised when Lissa hugged her tightly then and said in a worried tone, "Don't be afraid of me. I'm usually very friendly and cheerful. You're going to love me in the future I promise. I don't want this to be your first impression of me. You're my favorite of all of my mother's friends, and I don't want this to change that by mistake and rewrite history."

Oswin could feel that what she was saying was genuine, and it calmed her down. She said, "It's okay. I'll look over it. I've had bad days when I didn't act like myself either."

"Thank you. I'll just leave now before my mother comes back. Things might get ugly very quickly if I don't," Lissa said as she released her from the hug.

As she said that, the doors to the TARDIS opened; and Marissa entered by herself. She looked from Lissa to Oswin with a question on her face.

"Don't pay attention to me. I'm not supposed to be here. Just forget about me," Lissa quickly said.

"Who is Shehzadi, Marissa?" Oswin asked quickly before Lissa could leave.

"No! Why did you say that?" Lissa hissed at her.

Marissa turned pale white at the mention of that name, and she began to shake all over. She started to fall forward as she tried to pass out.

Lissa forgot all of her anger immediately as she rushed forward to catch her mother before she hit the floor of the TARDIS. Oswin quickly joined her, and the two women held Marissa up together.

"Mum! Are you okay?" Lissa asked in concern, forgetting that she wasn't supposed to be here.

"Shehzadi?" Marissa asked in confusion.

"No. I'm not her. Never mind me. I'm not supposed to be. You're not supposed to meet me yet," Lissa said.

She checked her mother's vital signs to make sure that she was alright, and then got up to leave. Marissa's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist firmly though and kept her from leaving.

"You're not Shehzadi. I can see that now. Who are you, and how do you know that name?" Marissa asked her.

"I can't tell you that. I have to leave. I shouldn't have come here. I'm sorry to have upset you," Lissa said in tears. Her anger at her mother was completely gone now, and she felt terrible for provoking such a reaction from her.

Oswin, unfortunately for Lissa, would not let things go so easily. She didn't feel so great about what mentioning that name had done to Marissa either, but she felt that she had to press on. If Idris had mentioned it, then it must have been important.

"Idris said that this woman's name was Lissa and that her sister was Shehzadi," Oswin said.

"Why can't you just leave it alone? You're going to make her sick again!" Lissa shouted at her with worry in her voice.

"You're my daughter?" Marissa asked in a voice filled with joy.

"Not yet. I will be though," Lissa admitted reluctantly.

Marissa embraced her tightly and began to laugh.

"I'm going to have another little girl!" she said to herself with a huge smile on her face as she hugged Lissa tightly.

Lissa felt lower than dirt right now at having come here to chew her mother out. She really just wanted to leave before she made things worse.

"I should leave. You really shouldn't know any more than you already do," Lissa said.

"Nonsense. Rose's future kids visit her all of the time," Marissa said dismissively.

"Yeah but she's the Bad Wolf. She can fix paradoxes and make sure that they don't accidentally erase themselves from history when they come to see her," Lissa said.

"It's okay I'm sure. All I know is your name. It's a name that I probably would have picked anyway. I like it. It's a nice name," Marissa said as she refused to let Lissa go.

"Who is Shehzadi, Mum? I have to know," Lissa finally asked her since it looked like she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon anyway.

"She was my daughter a long time ago back when I was still the Rani. She was just like I was back then. She was too much like me in fact. That's what got her . . . killed. She died. She was performing some kind of experiments on the DNA of the inhabitants of a planet named Cestus. Her experiments went out of control though, and the resulting hideous mutations that she created turned on her. They . . . tore her to pieces!" Marissa said as she shook with emotion.

"No, that can't be right. I've seen her recently, and she looks alright to me," Lissa said.

"What?" Marissa asked in disbelief.

"I've just seen someone who claims to be her. That's what I came here to ask you about. You never told me that I had a sister, and I wanted to know why," Lissa explained.

"No, that can't be right. Where is this person?" Marissa asked.

"She's being held prisoner back in Jenny Tyler's TARDIS on the planet Florana. She had killed some people on Earth, and Jenny was taking her back to Gallifrey when she stopped to find Leela on Florana," Lissa explained.

"I'm going with you to find out just who this person calling herself my daughter is once and for all. She's going to regret impersonating her!" Marissa said furiously.

"How do you know that she's a phony?" Oswin asked her curiously.

"I found her body, Oswin. It was torn to shreds, but I scanned it to make sure. It was her. It was the same genes. She's dead, Oswin. Someone is going around posing as my daughter, and I want to know why!" Marissa shouted.

Oswin wondered if maybe Marissa was blinding herself to the possibility that Shehzadi could be real. Idris had said that she was Lissa's sister after all, and she had no reason to lie about it. Everything else that she had said had turned out to be true so she didn't doubt her at all anymore at this point.

As Marissa started to take her TARDIS to Florana, Oswin knew that they were shortly about to find out. She just hoped for Marissa's sake that the answers that she would find there wouldn't prove to be too much for her.

**Next: Marissa travels to Florana and comes face to face with Shehzadi as she finds out the truth about her. Oswin meanwhile continues to have strange visions and dreams that she can't explain that all seem to involve a woman named Clara. She may just have to go see a Doctor about them.**


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**You may wish to read Jenny Tyler, Time's Angel Chapter 37 before this chapter, but it won't be necessary to do so in order to understand this story. **

Oswin had been having a pretty bad day so far, and it didn't look like it wasn't going to get better anytime soon. Marissa had decided to go to the planet Florana in order to see if a woman claiming to be her dead daughter, Shehzadi, was the real thing or not only to find out that the Silence were there once they arrived.

Oswin was forced to use her temporal shift to take Marissa to Jenny's TARDIS because the Silence had a weapon that could make a TARDIS incapable of traveling through time so she had decided not to land hers on the planet and risk it. Oswin then had to listen to Marissa and Amy get in a heated argument in Gallifreyan because Marissa didn't exactly take too well to the idea that River Song would turn out to be her future daughter's role model, and Amy took great offense at that.

Luckily Jenny had managed to put a stop to the fighting, and now Oswin and Marissa were going down to the prison cells in Jenny's TARDIS so that they could speak to this woman calling herself Marissa's daughter in person. Marissa was furious and convinced that someone was impersonating Shehzadi so this was sure to be another big fight. Oswin was not looking forward to that at all.

She really didn't want to be here. The only reason she had come was because Marissa was her best friend. She had her own problems lately after all. She kept having strange dreams and sometimes even visions about a woman that looked just like her named Clara. The dreams always had something to do with the Doctor and several adventures that this Clara had with him, and she would really rather go ask him about them than be here right now.

The dreams were really starting to bother her. She couldn't sleep at night anymore thanks to them as it was. She hadn't told Marissa or anyone else about them yet, but she knew that she would have to talk to someone soon before they drove her crazy.

Just before they reached the cells, Marissa turned around and looked at Oswin for a minute as she studied her face. Her anger about the current situation receded for a moment as she said, "Oswin, are you alright? You look like you're upset about something. You don't have to come in if you don't want to. This isn't your problem. It's mine."

"It's not that. There's just something that I need to talk to someone about. I think that I'm going insane," Oswin said in an emotional voice.

"What is it? Talk to me about it. You know that you can tell me anything," Marissa said in concern.

"I'll tell you later. Right now you need to go find out what's going on here," Oswin said.

"Are you sure?" Marissa asked.

"Yes. It can wait," Oswin said with a reassuring smile.

"We're going to talk about this later. I don't want you to think that you're all alone. I'm always here to talk to you and help you about anything. You're more than my friend, Oswin. You're the sister I always wanted," Marissa said with tears in her eyes.

Oswin smiled at her and said, "It'll keep for now. Just go ahead and talk to that woman in there. Thank you for saying that though, Mari. I feel the exact same way about you."

The two of them hugged each other briefly, and then Marissa went ahead into the prison area. She started inside still full of anger at what she had assumed was an imposter, and then she stopped in her tracks as she saw the woman in the cell next to Joan Redfern.

"Shehzadi?" Marissa said as she slowly walked forward as though she was in a nightmare.

Shehzadi turned to look at Marissa in horror as she called her name. She had never expected to see her here.

"Mum. I can explain," Shehzadi said.

"I found a body. It was yours. I know that it was yours. I checked it over and over again," Marissa said in a cold, emotionless voice.

"It was a clone. I cloned myself and staged my own death. I had to, or I would have died for real," Shehzadi said.

Marissa continued to stare at her without speaking as though she were in a trance. Shehzadi looked as if she'd rather be anywhere but there at that moment as her face was filled with a combination of fear and guilt.

Oswin walked forward and asked Marissa, "Are you okay?"

Marissa suddenly flew into a rage and screamed, "How could you do that to me?! How?! You could have at least told me about it! You never said a word!"

Shehzadi's face was quickly covered in tears as she said, "I'm sorry! I didn't want you to know because if you did, you would be in danger too."

"In danger from who?!" Marissa screamed.

"The Thorn. She would kill me if she knew that I was still alive. She has to continue to think that I'm dead. Does anyone else know that I'm here? Do they?" Shehzadi asked with pure fear on her face.

Marissa's anger was quickly replaced with worry and concern now as she realized that she may have unwittingly endangered her daughter by coming here.

"No, it's just the people on this TARDIS, me, Oswin, and my daughter from the future that I just met today," Marissa said.

"Can you trust them not to tell anyone else about it? What about her? Who is she?" Shehzadi asked as she looked at Oswin suspiciously.

"She's my best friend. She'd never betray me," Marissa said firmly.

"Everyone will betray you for the right price. You taught me that," Shehzadi said.

"I was wrong. You shouldn't listen to what I said in the past anymore. I'm not that person now. I've changed," Marissa said.

"Yes, I'm beginning to see that. You are different. You're one of those goody goodies now, aren't you? Did my 'death' affect you that much?" Shehzadi asked.

"Of course it did! You know it did. That was what started it all. I began to doubt everything that I had ever thought of as right especially that much vaunted wisdom of mine that you were just quoting a minute ago. Experiencing the Time War and all of the needless death and destruction involved in it just made my transformation deepen, and becoming a human being made it complete. I learned that the way that I had lived my life was all wrong, and I became convinced that it was by teaching you the wrong way to live that I had condemned you to destruction. I blamed myself for what had happened to you. I convinced myself that I had killed you and that it was my fault. Do you know what that put me through? Can you even begin to know?" Marissa asked with a haunted look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I had to do it. I didn't do it to hurt you but to save myself," Shehzadi said.

"You still won't tell me who this Thorn is and why she's after you," Marissa said.

"The less you know, the better," Shehzadi said stubbornly.

It was at that moment that Oswin began to have a vision of the woman named Clara again, the woman who looked and acted so much like her. This time she saw the inside of a long abandoned and dying TARDIS with energy flowing from where the console should have been. Clara was about to fling herself into that energy in order to save someone, someone important to her. The name of the place where all of this was taking place suddenly came into her mind then. It was a name that she had never heard before but yet at the same time seemed as familiar to her as her own name.

"Trenzalore. Trenzalore. Trenzalore," Oswin repeated over and over again as she suffered through this vision.

"How does she know that name?" Shehzadi asked in complete and utter terror.

"I don't know. I've never heard her say it before," Marissa said.

"She's one of them, isn't she? She's going to tell them that I'm still alive," Shehzadi said as she began to hyperventilate and panic.

"Oswin, can you hear me? What is Trenzalore? Can you hear me? Talk to me," Marissa said.

"Silence must fall when the question is asked. It's the question that must never be answered. Doctor who? Doctor who? Doctor who?" Oswin said as she was completely caught up in her vision.

"She's one of them!" Shehzadi screamed in terror.

"Stop it, Shehzadi! She's not one of anybody. She's my friend. I know her. You don't have to worry about her," Marissa said as she tried to calm Shehzadi down.

Oswin then came out of her vision and looked at Marissa blankly for a moment before coming back to her senses once again. She remembered what she had seen and said, but it made absolutely no sense to her whatsoever.

"Is that what you were going to tell me about?" Marissa asked.

"Yes. I keep having these odd visions and dreams. They're about someone named Clara. I don't know a Clara, but yet she looks just like me. Now I'm having ones about the Doctor lately too. This one was about his name. When he says his name, it means the end of everything according to this last vision," Oswin said.

"You're one of the Silence. That's what they believe. She's trying to fool you, Mum. Don't believe her! She just wants to kill me!" Shehzadi said half-mad from worry.

"No, she's not. She's not one of them. If she was, she'd be on the side of the ones outside that are fighting with Jenny right now," Marissa said.

"They're here? Now?!" Shehzadi asked in complete fear now. She began to sway back and forth as her eyes rolled back in her head.

"She's passing out," Marissa said in fear.

Luckily Shehzadi stayed conscious and just laid down on the floor of her cell where she looked up at them with a very sick look on her face. This Thorn, whoever she was, must obviously be one of the Silence; and she had scared Shehzadi half to death from just the fear of her alone.

That was when Jennifer, Jenny's dark side, passed through without even looking at them. She was on her way to see Joan Redfern obviously because she paused in front of her cell. Patrick soon followed her, and they began to talk to each other.

Oswin had no idea how Jennifer had gotten here, but she knew that Rose must have brought her since she had been trying to find her. If Rose was here, then that probably meant that the Doctor must be here as well. She had to go talk to him and see if he could make sense out of what had been happening to her lately before he left again.

Oswin suddenly saw Joan go running off down the corridor towards the console room after thanking who she thought was Jenny. Jennifer must have had a change of heart because apparently she had helped Joan. Maybe she wasn't so dark after all which suited Oswin just fine. The last time one of Rose's daughters went dark she had almost killed her!

"Marissa, can you handle things from here? I need to go talk to the Doctor about these visions," Oswin said.

"I think you should. It's okay. Go on," Marissa said.

After Oswin left, Shehzadi said, "The Thorn is the Silence's deadliest assassin. She wants to kill me because I accidentally discovered who she is. I'm the only one who knows, and the Silence don't want anyone else to find out until it's too late."

"Who is she? What secret could be so important that they would kill you over it?" Marissa asked.

"I can't tell you. If you don't know then they might let you live," Shehzadi said.

"You need to tell the Doctor at least. They hate him, and they may send her after him. He'll need every advantage against her that he can get," Marissa said.

"No! I don't care about the Doctor. Let him take care of himself. I'm only worried about you. You're the only one that I care about, Mum. I won't tell so that they don't hurt you," Shehzadi said with determination.

"I told you that you can't think that way anymore. You must tell me so that we can stop them," Marissa pleaded.

"No! I can't. They may spare you as long as I don't tell them," Shehzadi said.

At this point, Jennifer and Patrick had gone and left Marissa and Shehzadi all alone in the prison area with a now unconscious Sister Pestilence. Jennifer had to knock her unconscious in order to separate Joan from her safely.

Mother and daughter didn't stay alone for long though. A mysterious red headed woman suddenly appeared out of thin air startling both of them!

"You're right of course, Shehzadi. I will spare your mother but not you. You can't tell anyone what you know. You managed to hide from me for so long since even before the Time War, but now it's over at last. No one can run from me forever. Not even you. That you would be undone by your own as yet unborn sister is just so ironic to me. I love that part the most! I saw her abruptly disappear, and I followed her out of curiosity. Now I'm so glad that I did. I used my special abilities to enter your TARDIS exactly when you did, Ushas, but you never even saw me. I've been following you around this entire time listening to you in secret and now that the so-called Empress is gone it's time for me to strike. It's over, Shehzadi! Say goodbye to your mother for good this time!" the Thorn said as her hands began to glow with dark energy.

"No!" Marissa shouted as she got in-between Shehzadi and the intruder.

"I'm afraid so. Say good night, Ushas!" the Thorn said as she blasted Marissa with a burst of dark energy that quickly put her to sleep.

"She's alive?" Shehzadi asked in concern.

"Yes. I kept my word. She lives because you told no one. Now only you will have to die. It's better this way. She's already had time to mourn and get over you so it's not like it'll be all of that jarring to her anyway. Besides her, no one will miss you anyhow. I'm doing you a favor, Shehzadi. You were only a waste of space. You contributed nothing to the universe whatsoever except pain and sorrow. It's time that I put you out of your misery," the Thorn said in a cold, heartless tone.

"Good bye, Mum! I'm so sorry for everything!" Shehzadi said as she looked at her mother one last time.

"I'll tell her that you said that. It's the one decent thing that I've ever heard you say," the Thorn said with an almost sympathetic look on her face for once for the first time since she had arrived.

Shehzadi closed her eyes tightly as she waited for the Thorn to shoot. She filled her last moments with childhood memories of her and her mother together. The Thorn had no idea why Shehzadi was smiling as she pulled the trigger, and she really didn't care. A job was a job after all.

Oswin meanwhile was oblivious to all of this, and she walked up to the Doctor and Rose who were about to leave to take Joan Redfern to see Donald and River. She had to talk to the Doctor before he left.

"Doctor, I need to talk to you urgently about something. I've been having these horrible visions, and they seem to involve you. Have you ever heard of a place called Trenzalore?" Oswin asked.

The Doctor turned pale as she mentioned that name. He knew it all too well since he had been told that he would go there by Dorium Maldovar during 'the Fall of the Eleventh'. He had hoped that particular prophesy would have been undone with Rose's changing of the timeline, but apparently he was wrong.

"Have you been having visions of someone named Clara too?" Rose asked Oswin.

"Yes. You know what it's all about, don't you?" Oswin asked Rose.

"Yes, I'm afraid that I do," Rose said.

"Rose, what's going on here? Who is Clara?" the Doctor asked.

"She's someone who I thought that you would never meet in this timeline since I changed it so much. It seems that the Web of Time had other plans though. Doctor, Oswin, it's time that I took you to meet Clara Oswald," Rose said.

"What?" Oswin asked in complete shock.

"It's time that I told you the full truth about yourself, Oswin. You've forgotten it because of all that you're gone through. You've forgotten who you really are or at least who you were," Rose said.

"I don't understand. I know who I am. I haven't forgotten anything," Oswin protested.

"You know who you are in this life. You've forgotten about all of your other ones though and who you originally were before you sacrificed yourself at Trenzalore to save the Doctor," Rose said.

Oswin's eyes went wide as she remembered the vision that she had earlier. "I'm Clara! I'm the woman in the visions! How though since you just said that there was a Clara in this universe already?" Oswin asked.

"You were the Clara of another timeline, one that was erased when I changed things. You're all that's left of that Clara. I saved you because I didn't think that you should be completely erased since you had made such a great sacrifice to save the Doctor. You were so different from the Clara of this universe since you had been made into a Dalek that I was able to bring you into the new timeline without causing any problems. I wanted something of the original Clara to survive. The Clara in this universe is similar to you but may be different than she would have been originally thanks to the changes that I have made. It seems that we may need to go see her yet. She may have to fulfill her role at Trenzalore after all if you're having these visions of her doing so," Rose explained.

"Is this the timeline that never happened then?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, it is. Apparently, it's going to happen again anyway despite the changes that I made. I just wonder how different it will be without the Great Intelligence here. It can't be him involved this time because he's dead," Rose said.

"What does he have to do with it?" the Doctor asked confused.

"He was the one who asked you your name in the other timeline. He's gone though so who could it be now?" Rose asked.

"It could be anyone. I have so many people who hate me. Why would it still happen though? If the Intelligence is dead, then why would the prophecy continue; and why would this universe's Clara have to sacrifice herself to save me? It should be over with now," the Doctor said.

"I have a feeling that's why the Silence are back, Doctor. The prophecy isn't over, and they know it. That's why they've returned," Rose said.

"I know. I've been afraid of that being the case all along," the Doctor admitted.

"So we're going to see this Clara then?" Oswin asked.

"Yes, I think that we should. She may soon become the only one who can save the universe if things start going like they did before," Rose said.

"Who's to say that she would be the one to save the universe though? If things have changed, then it may be someone else not her this time. If it even still happens the same way as it did in the vanished timeline at all," the Doctor said.

"I know but we still need to go get her and bring her with us just in case that we need her. It's about time that Oswin met her other self anyway and vice versa," Rose said.

It was at that moment that Lissa landed Marissa's TARDIS after being assured that the Silence's weapon had been destroyed and that the Silence themselves had been driven away. Just as Lissa appeared out of the TARDIS, Oswin said to her, "Tell your mother that I'm going with the Doctor and Rose for a while. There's someone that I have to meet."

"I will. Good luck, Aunt Oswin!" Lissa said with a knowing look on her face. She already knew what was ahead for her, but couldn't tell her anything about it of course.

Oswin left with the Doctor and Rose in the Doctor's TARDIS then, completely oblivious about what was taking place between Shehzadi and the Thorn. She was soon going to have plenty of problems of her own to occupy herself with as well. Meeting Clara Oswald would start her on a path that would only end with Trenzalore.

**Next: Our two lead characters part ways for a while as Oswin travels with the Doctor and Rose to meet Clara while Marissa is left alone and unconscious as the Thorn prepares to kill her daughter. Is Shehzadi really finished for good? **


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place during Jenny Tyler, Time's Angel Chapter 38 and before The Further Adventures of River Song Chapter 5. **

Just as the Thorn shot Shehzadi with the staser that she had brought to finish her off with, its ray was blocked by an energy shield that suddenly sprang up out of nowhere around Shehzadi. Both women were shocked by this new development and had no clue what had just happened until a voice said, "I know she's a pain in the neck right now, but she does get better. Trust me!"

They both turned to see a young woman materializing out of thin air with a huge smile on her face. She seemed to enjoy the surprised reaction that she was getting from both of them.

"Hi. It's so nice to meet you. Well, it's your first time meeting me but not my first time meeting you. That's time travel for you though! Sometimes it just gives me such a headache trying to figure it all out. You know the only way that this could possibly get any worse is if Lissa came in here all of a sudden. The three of you would probably blow up the whole planet with all of the angst that you're all carrying around. Considering its current condition though, you might be doing the planet a favor," Jessica Baker said with a grin.

"Who are you?" the Thorn asked in irritation.

"You'll find out some day when you get done being a River Song Wannabe," Jessica said with a giggle.

"How dare you make fun of me? Do you know who I am? I am the Thorn! I will crush you!" the Thorn shouted.

"Oh, you are so cute at this stage! You become so much more boring later on. It's so nice to see you here when you're still so crazy and unpredictable. You're much more interesting this way," Jessica said.

"Why did you save me?" Shehzadi asked curiously.

"Let's just say that you're a louse, but you're not totally unredeemable, Shehzadi. Even you will be surprised at what you're capable of becoming someday," Jessica said cryptically.

"Now you're starting to remind me of River Song," the Thorn said.

"Thanks!" Jessica said happily.

"That was not a compliment!" the Thorn cried out in exasperation.

"It was to me," Jessica replied.

Any response that the Thorn would have had died in her mouth as a nearly revived Marissa punched her in the jaw and laid her out cold on the ground. Marissa ran to Shehzadi and hugged her tightly with relief.

"Who are you? Never mind, it doesn't matter. I just want to thank you for saving her!" Marissa said with gratitude.

"No problem, Mari. You'll do the same for me one day. In fact, you and Oswin help pull my fat out of the fire a lot along with Amy and River. I'm afraid I'm a lot of trouble," Jessica admitted with embarrassment.

"I never would have guessed," Jenny said from behind them all.

Jessica froze up as she realized that she had stayed just a little too long. A look of fear crossed her face for the first time now since she had arrived here.

Jenny walked up to the terrified girl and whispered, "What are you so afraid of?"

"You know who I am, don't you?" Jessica said.

"I can guess. Your two sisters did mention you after all not too long ago," Jenny said.

"If they make my name change by meeting you too early, I'll kill them!" Jessica said furiously.

"Don't worry about it, Jessica. I think your name is safe," Jenny whispered.

Jessica smiled from ear to ear as she hugged her mother tightly. She knew that there were so many more important things to worry about than a name change, but it was her name after all. It was important to her since it had helped define who she was and who she would become, and she loved it just the way that it was.

As Jenny and Jessica embraced, Marissa and Shehzadi smiled together as they watched them.

"I guess it's not too hard to figure out who she is or will be anyway," Shehzadi said.

"No, it's not. She obviously will love her mother as much as I love you," Marissa said with joy.

As the mothers and daughters talked to one another, none of them noticed the Thorn regain consciousness and watch them with envy. She could easily kill Shehzadi now while she was distracted, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it while her mother was talking to her. Seeing Marissa's love for her daughter brought out a long buried part of the Thorn that longed for her own mother's love. A love that she had been denied.

The Thorn used her powers to leave as she promised herself that next time she would not fail. She would find Shehzadi alone eventually, and then she would carry out her mission at last. She knew that Shehzadi would tell no one her secret until then in order to protect her mother from her so she had no worries about that. She knew that Shehzadi could safely wait for a while.

For now though, she had another target to go after. One she had really been looking forward to killing. She knew that this target's death would really hurt her mother, and she longed to see the look on her face once she accomplished it.

Meanwhile, Oswin was traveling with the Doctor, Rose, and Joan Redfern through the Vortex. They were supposed to be bringing Joan back to stay with Donald Noble the Metacrisis Doctor after they had been separated from each other for so long by the Shadow, but the Doctor and Rose decided that Oswin should meet with Clara first. Joan was eager to see Donald again, but when the Doctor explained to her just how important that it was for them to see Clara she decided to wait just a little longer.

The TARDIS arrived across the street from where Rose had told the Doctor Clara lived. It so happened that today Clara wasn't alone. Rose smiled as she saw Clara standing outside her front door with her two young charges, Artie and Angie Maitland. Clara was their nanny and had been ever since their mother had died. No matter what universe she was from, Clara Oswin Oswald always loved children.

Oswin couldn't breathe for a minute as she watched Clara. It was uncanny! She looked just like her. She even had the same mannerisms and walked and talked exactly the same. She could be her twin.

"Oswin, you need to talk to her now," Rose said as she tried to prod her into going over to talk to with Clara.

"I don't know what to say to her. I just . . . ," Oswin said nervously. She was so dumbstruck at seeing Clara that she couldn't even finish her last sentence.

Clara went inside of her house for a moment and left Artie and Angie standing outside alone. Oswin decided that now was just as good a time as any for her to meet Clara so she hesitantly walked over into Clara's front yard.

"Clara, how did you get behind us so quickly when you just went inside a few minutes ago?" Artie asked Oswin in confusion.

"She went out the back door and circled around. Duh!" Angie said as she rolled her eyes at her little brother.

"What's that you're wearing? It looks like you're going to some kind of science fiction convention in that outfit. Is that where we're going? Are we going to a convention?" Artie asked in excitement.

Oswin couldn't speak. She didn't know what to say to the boy. She liked both of the children from the moment she met them. They seemed so familiar to her already. It was just as if she had already met them before which in a way she guessed that she had if she used to be Clara.

She came to a sudden shocking realization as she realized just why that they were so familiar. She used to be their nanny herself in a different life, a life that she couldn't even remember now. She began to get upset at the thought of what she had lost and started to tear up.

"Clara, what's wrong? Are you okay? I wasn't making fun of you or anything. I really do want to go to a convention," Artie said as he began to get upset himself.

Oswin and the two children then all turned to face the front door as they heard Clara gasp in surprise. Clara had just seen Oswin and thought that she was losing her mind.

"W – w – who are you?" Clara asked as she began to shake all over.

"That's a long story, Clara. My friends and I have come here to tell it to you if you don't mind," Oswin said as she spoke for the first time since walking into the yard.

Rose and the Doctor then came walking across the street to stand with Oswin, and Clara began to gather the children closer to her protectively. Oswin realized that she was afraid that they were all in danger from the three strangers.

"I'd never hurt the children. I love them as much as you do," Oswin said as she attempted to reassure her.

"Somehow I doubt that," Clara said as she continued to stare at Oswin in a combination of fear and fascination.

"Why didn't you tell me that you weren't Clara?" Artie asked Oswin.

"I didn't know what to say. I was shocked at meeting both of you because you remind me of two children that I once knew before. You're so much like them," Oswin said.

"What happened to them?" Artie asked innocently.

"I lost them. Forever," Oswin said as she began to tear up again.

Artie walked up to her and put his arms around her as he said, "I'm sorry. Did they die?"

"No, but I can never see them again. At least not in the way that I used to," Oswin replied in the closest approximation to the truth that she could give him that he would understand.

"I'm sorry," Artie said again as Oswin continued to cry.

Rose felt so guilty then as if she had stolen something from Oswin herself even though she knew that it had been the original Clara's own decision that had created Oswin in the first place. She could see Clara beginning to soften towards Oswin as she saw how upset she was and how Artie seemed to immediately like and trust her.

"So who are you anyway? Clara never said that she had a twin sister," Angie asked.

Clara and Oswin both looked at each other for a moment, and they could see from studying the looks on each other's faces that they were both thinking the same thoughts at once. They both smiled at each other as they both said at once, "She's my cousin."

Angie and Artie both blinked at the two of them talking at once and saying the exact same thing in the exact same tone of voice. Rose tried to keep from laughing while the Doctor just shook his head. This seemed like a bad idea already to him to have two versions of the same person meet like this.

"An identical cousin?" Angie asked skeptically.

"So? It happens. It doesn't happen every day, but there have been cousins who look alike before," Clara said as she tried to come up with an explanation.

"There have been cousins that happen to look exactly alike?" Angie asked in an even more skeptical tone now.

"Yes. It happens. How else do you explain the two of us? You know that I'm an only child," Clara challenged her.

"Alright, I guess it has to be true since the evidence is right in front of me. Fun! Now I have two people trying to pretend to be my mother. I suppose that she's going to start helping you take care of us too now that she's here," Angie said with a sigh.

"Two Claras! I like it," Artie said happily.

"You would," Angie said.

"Well, Cousin, I guess I'll just invite you and your two friends here inside for a while. Kids, you can go watch TV while the four of us have a private discussion for a while," Clara said.

As the two Maitland children sat down to fight over what to watch on Clara's television, Clara led Oswin, Rose, and the Doctor into another room and shut the door so that they could have some privacy. They all sat down, and Oswin could see that Clara was still nervous around them.

"I swear that we aren't here to harm you or the children, Clara. We need to talk to you about something," Oswin said.

"Does that something have to do with why you look like my clone?" Clara asked in growing discomfort.

"Yes, it does. I know that you're not going to believe this because I don't completely believe it myself but I'm you. I'm you from another timeline that no longer exists. Basically, I'm a version of you who lived in the future," Oswin said.

Clara just looked at her like she had just escaped from an asylum which seemed ironic to Oswin because she had not too long ago. The thought of it made her want to laugh, and she had to try very hard not to.

"What is it that you find so funny? Upsetting me and freaking out my kids is not funny to me," Clara said angrily.

"If you don't approve then why did you go along with it?" Oswin asked even though she already knew the answer.

"I had to pretend that you were my cousin so that the children wouldn't feel like that they were in danger and also so that they wouldn't keep asking questions that I don't know the answers to," both Clara and Oswin said at the exact same time together.

"Stop that! That's really creepy!" both of the women said at the same time yet again.

"Stop it! I mean it!" they both said once more together.

Clara began to look very worried and anxious now, and Rose could tell that she was very close to either asking them to leave or calling the authorities.

"Oswin, stop it. You're just making things worse," Rose said.

"Oswin?" Clara asked in even more disbelief.

"That's my name. I'm Oswin Oswald," Oswin said.

"What is this? Am I on television? Is someone going to jump out and start laughing at how I've been tricked any minute now?" Clara said as she started looking around for cameras somewhere.

"This is getting us nowhere. We're going to have to use the direct approach in order to convince her," the Doctor said.

He walked up to Clara and bumped foreheads with her as a way of quickly transferring knowledge to her just as he had with Craig Owens once. Both of them cried out in pain, and Rose rolled her eyes and shook her head at the sight of it.

"What. Was. That?!" Clara screamed.

"What do you mean? I just told you about whom the three of us are and what Rose told me about exactly who Oswin is to you all in one big head bump. You can't get more efficient than that," the Doctor said as he rubbed his head.

"I'm losing my mind. I must be. I just had images and information flashing through my head that I still don't quite understand, at least not completely. So you really have a time machine that looks like a blue box, and it's bigger on the inside than on the outside?" Clara asked.

"That's right," the Doctor said with a grin.

"I've become a nutter. That's it. It must be. I've gone insane, and I'm hallucinating now. That has to be it. Either I'm insane or you are," Clara said pointing to the Doctor.

"I'm voting for him," Rose said with a chuckle.

"You're not helping, Rose," the Doctor said grumpily.

"You call her Rose, but her name's really Arkytior," Clara said as she began to finally start processing all of the information that the Doctor had just put into her head now.

"Yes, but I prefer Rose," Rose replied.

"Both of you are worried about something terrible happening that could mean the end of the universe as we know it. Someone wants to enter your past and change it," Clara said slowly.

"Yes and apparently you, well another you, helped to save me from dying before and part of her became her," the Doctor said as he pointed at Oswin.

"Way to go, Doctor. That won't confuse her I'm sure," Rose said.

"I think that I do understand now though. I really do. I once travelled through time and space with you in your blue box, and I helped save your life. Only that never happened now. It still could though so you want me to travel with you again to help stop it if it does happen again. I've got it, right?" Clara asked.

"Yes, that's it," the Doctor said as he stuck his tongue out triumphantly at Rose. He had succeeded in making Clara understand after all.

Clara smiled at his antics as she said, "You love to tease her all of the time. It's one of the ways that you show her how much you love her."

The Doctor looked embarrassed at that as he hadn't meant for that rather personal detail to get through to Clara when they bumped their heads together, and Clara grimaced at the sight of his red face.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let on that I knew that, should I?" Clara asked.

"It's okay. It wasn't anything that I didn't already know," Rose said as she gave the Doctor a quick peck on the lips.

"So do I get to travel in the TARDIS now then?" Clara asked eagerly.

"For the foreseeable future, yes," Rose replied happily.

"Great. What do I do with the kids though? I couldn't exactly bring them along, could I? Could I?" Clara asked hopefully.

The Doctor started to say something but Rose quickly interrupted as she said, "No! It's bad enough that we're putting your life in danger, Clara. We shouldn't be so irresponsible as to endanger the lives of the children as well."

Clara and Oswin both looked at each other and laughed as they both knew what the other was thinking. It was easy to tell just who the boss was in that particular relationship!

"What do I do with the kids then?" Clara asked in concern.

"That's easy enough. Just take care of them as you usually do for the rest of the day, and we'll travel through time to tomorrow morning. Then you can just meet us outside in the same place, and we can go traveling together from then on," the Doctor said.

"I'm supposed to take care of the kids tomorrow too though," Clara said.

"You're forgetting that I have a magnificent time machine that can bring you back right after you left. I'll have you back five minutes later I promise," the Doctor said.

Clara looked at him skeptically as she said, "You forget that you told me about yourself. I know that you can't always go where and when you want to go."

"I promise that five minutes won't turn into twelve to fourteen years, Clara. The kids will still be the same age when we get back," Rose said.

"Okay then. You I'll trust. He trusts you completely after all," Clara said.

"You can trust all of us, Clara. The Doctor may have a lousy sense of direction, but he's a good man," Rose said.

"I know. I've been inside his head after all," Clara said with a smile.

The three of them left then and came back the next morning just as the Doctor promised to find Clara waiting for them with two bags packed.

The Doctor smiled as he said, "I'm so glad that you're a light packer. You would not believe what Donna brought on the TARDIS. I thought the suitcases would never stop coming."

"Oh, this isn't all of it. I have some more inside. I didn't know how long I'd have to stay before we came back so I packed a lot of stuff last night. It would have been different if you were just keeping me onboard for a short while, and then bringing me back again. I wouldn't have to pack anything then. This trip with you sounds like it may be for a while though so I decided to take everything that I needed. We have time for me to get everything onboard, right? This may take a while to move everything after all. It took me all night to pack," Clara said.

"Sure, that'll be fine," the Doctor said as he began to pout.

"We'll all help you move them. It'll go quicker that way," Rose volunteered them all.

As the Doctor, Rose, and Oswin helped to carry Clara's luggage onboard, the Doctor grumbled, "Why didn't you tell me about this? You had to know what she had planned."

"Of course I did. I just wanted to see that look on your face when you found out," Oswin said with a smirk.

"I've trained you well, my apprentice," Rose said with an evil smile.

As the Doctor continued to grumble and the two women began to snicker at him, Clara just shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know what the big deal was after all. It wasn't like she was moving in permanently or something. This was what she always packed for a small vacation.

**Next: Oswin reunites with Marissa and her other friends as they begin a brand new adventure together after she finds out some information from Dalek Epsilon of a possible way to cure Marissa of her immortality. Will she succeed in curing Marissa at last? **

**Clara, by the way, will be found in future chapters of It's Better With Two. **


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place after The Further Adventures of River Song Chapter 7 and Lily and Robin Chapter 49. **

The Doctor had agreed to meet up with Marissa to deliver Oswin to her at the UNIT HQ parking lot just like all of the Time Lords had started doing ever since Rose had struck up an agreement with them to let them do so. Oswin could have gone back to Marissa on her own using her Temporal Shift device, but the Doctor had offered to give her a lift because he wanted to talk to Marissa.

Marissa was standing outside of her TARDIS waiting as the Doctor's TARDIS materialized nearby. The doors to the TARDIS opened, and Clara stepped out to have a quick look around. She had forgotten about how she was basically Oswin's twin. She wouldn't be making that mistake again.

"Oswin, why are you dressed like that for? Are you trying to fit in with today's fashions? That doesn't seem like you," Marissa asked as she hugged Clara.

Clara was taken totally by surprise and started to tell her that she wasn't Oswin when she was interrupted by the arrival of more of Oswin's friends. Molly and Janine came running up to her excited, and the two of them started talking before Clara could say a word.

"I'm going to get to go to school. Normally I'd hate that, but this is going to be a special school on Gallifrey. That's so cool! I get to go to school on another planet! How cool is that?" Janine said excited.

"It is pretty cool I have to admit. My news is even better though. Dalek Epsilon's just called and left a message for you. I don't know what it is since I didn't know how to play it back, but maybe it's a lead to a cure for Mari's immortality. I certainly hope so," Molly said with a hopeful look on her face.

"That's great, Molly. I hope that it turns out to be what we've been looking for," Oswin said from the doorway of the TARDIS.

Marissa, Molly, and Janine all blinked as they looked from Clara to Oswin and back again. They were all stunned by what they were seeing. Clara could be Oswin's exact duplicate. They looked exactly the same in every way.

"Clara?" Marissa guessed.

"Hi, sorry for the confusion," Clara said with a grin.

"It's amazing! The two of you could be twins!" Molly said as she looked Clara up and down and made her uncomfortable.

"Stop that, Mol! Can't you see the look on Clara's face?" Oswin admonished her.

"I'm sorry, Clara. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just so weird is all," Molly apologized.

"That's okay," Clara said with a warm smile.

"Did you hear my news too?" Janine asked Oswin.

"Yes, I did. It was Rose's idea actually. She wanted to create a school for the kids of time travelers to go to so that they don't miss out on their education. She even asked me if I wanted to teach some of the classes. I might consider it," Oswin said.

"You could be my teacher? Oh, cool! I wouldn't have to worry so much if you were my teacher," Janine said.

"Why would you be worried?" Oswin asked.

"Well, the teacher might not like me or something, and then they'd have it in for me the rest of the year. It used to happen back on my home planet sometimes, and it was never pleasant," Janine said.

"Who wouldn't like you?" Oswin asked with a smile.

"I know. I'm so lovable! It happens though," Janine said with a mischievous grin.

Clara smiled at the two of them and realized just how much like her Oswin really was. Oswin seemed to love being around children too just like she did. Speaking of which, that talk of a school for the children of time travelers had given her an idea.

"Could anyone apply to teach at this school? What qualifications do you have to have?" Clara asked curiously.

Oswin looked at her in surprise for a moment, and then she smiled and nodded her head as she said, "I'm sorry, Clara. I should have known if I was thinking about it that you would be too.

I'll tell you all about it before you leave. I think you'd have a good chance of getting a job there. Rose is the one doing the hiring after all," Oswin said to her with a wink.

"Sounds good to me," Clara said with a chuckle. This should be an easy job to get if Rose was doing the hiring.

"Aren't you going to be busy enough already with Angie, Artie, and me," the Doctor said as he finally emerged from the TARDIS.

"I could do a class or two every now and then. I'd love the experience. Besides, I can take care of more than three kids at once. I've done it before," Clara said grinning evilly.

"Oi! Despite what Rose might say about me, I am not a child!" the Doctor protested.

"To be fair, he was like that even when he was a child," Marissa said laughing.

"Oi! No fair telling stories about me from the Academy. I wasn't as cool then as I am now," the Doctor protested.

"What did you want to see me about, Doctor? I know that you didn't come here just to talk about the new school," Marissa said as she decided to get to the point. The two of them went off by themselves inside of the Doctor's TARDIS to talk.

"It's about Shehzadi," the Doctor said as he closed the TARDIS doors.

"I should go, Doctor," Marissa said as her face became contorted with anger.

"I just want you to make sure of what you're doing. I know that she's your daughter and you love her, but are you sure that it's safe to keep her on your TARDIS especially with a child around? Many of my friends are traveling with you now too, and I don't want anything to happen to them either," the Doctor said with a worried tone.

"I know what I'm doing, Doctor," Marissa said in a gentler but still firm tone.

"I'm not trying to get you to put her on Shada. I just want you to watch her, and don't let her do anything that you might regret later on," the Doctor said.

"I will. Don't worry. I can keep her under control. I won't let her do anything to anyone anymore. They're all my friends now too, Doctor. Believe me when I say I won't let anything happen to any of them," Marissa said.

The Doctor nodded without saying anything further, but Marissa could still see worry and fear in his eyes. She knew that he wasn't just worried about his past companions. He was also worried about her and Oswin. It was quite a switch from before the Time War when she was always trying to kill him and had in fact killed one of his incarnations once by accident.

"It's alright. I forgave you for that a long time ago," the Doctor said as he guessed what Marissa was thinking about.

"Thank you, but I still haven't forgiven myself yet. I have changed though, and she can too. I can help her to change. It's my fault that she is the way that she is after all. I taught her to be this way. I provided a bad example to her growing up, and now I'm going to provide a good one," Marissa said.

"I hope you're right," the Doctor said.

Then he surprised Marissa by giving her a tight hug. She hugged him back and thought back to her old self with a smile. The Rani would have never thought such a day would have been possible. If she were here right now, she'd be screaming in horror. She was so glad that she was no longer her anymore.

"Be careful, Ushas. I don't want anything to happen to any of you. You've become a good friend to me since you changed, and I don't want to lose you," the Doctor said.

"I'm sorry that we were never that close before, Doctor. That was my loss," Marissa said.

"No, we weren't, but you helped Rose once when she really needed it. I've never forgotten that. That was an act of pure kindness that showed me that you could become the person that you are today," the Doctor said.

"Stop worrying, Doctor. Shehzadi won't hurt anyone else I promise you that," Marissa said firmly.

"I guess I'll just have to take your word for it. I'll just take Clara and go now," the Doctor said.

"Is she like Oswin in personality as well as appearance?" Marissa asked him curiously.

"In some ways, but she seems to be somewhat different too. I guess it shows how your environment really does change you and helps to make you who you are," the Doctor said.

"Nature vs. Nurture. Yes, I understand. I thought that might be the case," Marissa said.

"How's Koschei doing by the way? Has he ever accepted being Lily's son and Rose's half-brother yet?" the Doctor asked.

"It's hit him pretty hard, but I think that he'll be okay. He actually likes the idea of being Rose's brother. He's already planning on giving you trouble over that since he's now your brother-in-law," Marissa said with a grin.

"Oh, no! I was hoping that would never occur to him. Now he's going to be driving me nuts about treating her better, isn't he? Even though we all know who's really in charge in our relationship," the Doctor said with a sigh.

"Don't worry about. He's found something good out of this whole situation already. That's a start towards him accepting it, isn't it?" Marissa said.

"Something good?! Picking on me is something good?" the Doctor protested.

"It is to him," Marissa pointed out with a giggle.

"I'd definitely better leave now before he shows up then," the Doctor said as he looked around him nervously as if he expected Koschei to show up at any moment.

"Good bye, Doctor," Marissa said as she left his TARDIS.

Marissa came out to find Clara talking to the others with much greater ease and comfort now. That made sense since she was so much like Oswin. She was sure that Clara could easily become friends with all of Oswin's friends as well thanks to that fact with little or no difficulty.

"The Doctor's leaving now, Clara," Marissa said.

"Oh, well I guess I have to leave then. Maybe I can see all of you later, especially if I get to teach at this new school," Clara said as she started for the TARDIS.

"I hope that you do get to teach there. That way I know I'll have at least two teachers who won't hate me," Janine said.

Clara laughed at that, and then waved good bye at everyone before getting into the TARDIS. The TARDIS dematerialized, and Oswin decided to see just what Dalek Epsilon had said.

The four of them entered Marissa's TARDIS to find a blinking light on the console showing that there was a message for Oswin stored there. Oswin walked up to the console and pushed a few buttons. Moments later, a life-sized hologram of Dalek Epsilon started to play in front of all of them.

"HELLO, EM – I MEAN OSWIN. I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT WE HAVE FOUND A POSSIBLE CURE FOR THE REGENERATIVE ELEMENT'S IMMORTALITY EFFECTS. WE HAVE HEARD OF LEGENDS OF THE SCYTHE OF ANUBIS, AN ANCIENT OSIRIAN WEAPON THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO KILL ANY BEING, EVEN AN IMMORTAL ONE, BY DRAINING IT OF ITS LIFE FORCE. I KNOW THAT YOU DON'T WISH TO KILL YOUR FRIEND, BUT I MENTION IT TO YOU BECAUSE THE LEGENDS OF IT SAY THAT A SKILLED USER OF IT MAY BE ABLE TO MERELY REMOVE THE IMMORTALITY FROM A PERSON AND NOT THEIR LIFE. IT MAY BE FOUND ACCORDING TO LEGEND ON THE RUINS OF THE HOME PLANET OF THE OSIRIANS, PHAESTER OSIRIS. IT IS ACCORDING TO THESE LEGENDS BURIED IN THE TOMB OF ANUBIS, WHO WAS KILLED BY SUTEKH BEFORE HE STARTED THE RAMPAGE THAT TURNED HIS HOMEWORLD INTO A LIFELESS CINDER CIRCLING A DEAD STAR. I AM INCLUDING THE COORDINATES FOR THE TOMB NOW," Epsilon said in the message.

A series of coordinates followed which Oswin quickly entered into her portable datapad, which she always carried on her person to store all of her useful information in including the knowledge of the Dalek net that she had stolen. Oswin was beginning to wonder why if everyone knew the location of this tomb that the scythe had never been found before when Epsilon's message continued.

"I MUST WARN YOU, OSWIN, THAT THE SCYTHE IS TO BE FOUND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TOMB, AND TO GET TO IT YOU MUST GO THROUGH SEVERAL DEATH TRAPS PLACED THERE TO GUARD IT. THE LEGENDS SAY THAT THE TRAPS ARE SO HORRIBLE THAT NO ONE HAS EVER FOUND THEIR WAY THROUGH THEM. IF YOU STILL WISH TO FIND THE SCYTHE, PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION. GOOD LUCK, EM - OSWIN," Epsilon said before finally breaking off his message.

"I think that he actually cares about you," Molly said surprised.

"Of course he does. He's my friend," Oswin admitted.

"This sounds incredibly dangerous, Oswin. You don't need to go through this. I'm okay with being immortal. I'm coming to terms with it," Marissa said.

"I have to try to find this Scythe in order to make you normal again, Mari. I won't be able to rest until I've fixed what I did to you," Oswin said with guilt in her voice.

"Don't do this, Oswin. I have a bad feeling about it," Marissa warned her.

"I have to, Mari. Are you coming with me?" Oswin asked.

"Yes, but I won't force anyone else to. I'm leaving everyone else on Earth," Marissa said firmly. She really didn't want to go through with this, but she would in order to keep Oswin from getting herself killed while trying to help her.

"I'm going," Molly said stubbornly.

"No, you're not," Oswin said.

"Yes, I am. I'm going to help you, Oswin. Mari's my friend too," Molly said with determination.

Oswin sighed as she gave up and said, "Okay, then it's the three of us then because Janine is definitely not going. Peri would have my head."

"You don't have to worry about me, Oswin. The whole thing's got me shivering already just hearing about it. Sorry for not being braver!" Janine said.

"It's okay. You would have to be insane if it didn't scare you, sweetie," Oswin said as she smiled at the little girl.

Having made their minds up, the three women left Janine with her mother and their other friends, who were staying at UNIT HQ for now, without telling them where they were going. Marissa also left Shehzadi there, but she had to do a lot of work talking her into it because she was very reluctant to go. She knew that her mother was keeping something about their destination from her.

Oswin didn't want the others to endanger themselves either. It was bad enough that Molly was coming. She knew that the girl seemed to have a serious death wish for some reason, but this was ridiculous.

After Oswin tried unsuccessfully to talk Molly out of coming one last time, the three of them set off for what was left of the home world of the Osirians. Oswin would soon be in for one of the most harrowing experiences of her life as she would suffer through incredible torment and pain in order to help Marissa. Even if she had known what awaited her though, she would have still done the same thing anyway. That was what friends did for one another.

**Next: Oswin, Marissa, and Molly go through the death traps of the Tomb of Anubis in order to find the Scythe. What horrible dangers will they discover along the way? **


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Marissa's TARDIS materialized on what was left of the Osirian homeworld of Phaester Osiris right in front of what Oswin assumed must be the Tomb of Anubus. The opening was covered over by several tons of stone and rock.

"Here's the first challenge to getting to the Scythe already. No wonder no one's ever tried to get into this place," Oswin said to Marissa and Molly.

"They didn't have a TARDIS though and I do. I'll take us inside. Come back in," Marissa said.

Marissa made a short trip in the Vortex, and her TARDIS materialized just inside of the entrance. Marissa quickly tested the atmosphere and assured herself that it was safe for both Time Lords and humans to walk around inside of the tomb. That wasn't counting the death traps that were supposed to lie ahead of course.

"Molly, please stay in the TARDIS," Oswin said in a worried voice as she looked at the darkened and ominous looking hallways lying ahead of them.

Molly was touched by what she knew was Oswin's heartfelt concern for her, but she still wanted to go. She had to go. She wanted to stand by her friends. Also, this might finally be the day for her to get what she most wanted.

"No, I'm going," Molly said stubbornly.

Oswin shook her head and started to walk forward as she used a portable wrist scanner based off of Dalek tech to scan the area in front of them for signs of potential traps. Marissa started to look over her shoulder to see what the scanner found as Oswin said, "What are you doing?"

"I'm looking to see if there's a trap ahead," Marissa said.

"Why?" Oswin asked suspiciously.

"I'm going in front of the two of you that's why," Marissa said as if it was obvious.

"No, you're not," Oswin said.

"Yes, I am. I'm apparently immortal plus I'm a Time Lord so I can regenerate. I'm. Going. First," Marissa said firmly.

"No, I am," Molly said as she raced straight ahead while the other two women argued.

"Molly!" Both Oswin and Marissa screamed in disbelief as Molly raced straight into the unknown.

Before either of her friends could catch up to her, Molly ran headfirst into the very first trap in the tomb. A set of transparent walls came down on all sides of Molly separating her from the others, and a holographic image appeared in front of her of an alien that she assumed must be an Osirian.

"This is the first test given to all unauthorized visitors to this tomb. This is the test of character. Lethal gas will be flooding into your area soon. You can save yourself by pushing the glowing red button in front of you and pump the gas into the same area as your friends, or you can do nothing and let the gas enter and kill you," the hologram said.

"Well that's a no brainer," Molly said as she did nothing.

"Molly, push the button. I have a force field that I can protect the two of us with," Oswin said.

"No," Molly said with no emotion on her face.

"Push the button, Molly!" Marissa screamed as she saw the gas begin to enter the transparent chamber that Molly had been sealed into.

Molly did nothing, and she was soon lost from sight as a swirling mist of gas covered her. Oswin tried to enter the cube, but something about the walls blocked her Temporal Shift. Even it couldn't get her inside. Oswin's force field couldn't break through the walls either in order to protect Molly.

"Molly," Oswin said sadly after several minutes had passed, and neither of them had seen any movement from her.

Then the gas was pumped out of the cube, and Oswin screamed with joy as she saw that Molly was standing there with an angry look on her face. The transparent walls went up, and the two women raced to Molly and hugged her tightly in relief.

"The test of character has been passed. Showing concern for others instead of one's self," the hologram said as it appeared again.

Oswin was confused as to why Molly looked so disappointed and angry. She began to wonder if the recklessness that she had thought of before as Molly's death wish was literally that, and that scared her.

"You can turn around now and leave safely, or you can proceed and face two more tests ahead. Proceed further at your own risk," the hologram said before it faded away again.

"What were you doing?" Oswin said in anger to Molly.

"I wanted to save you two. It was my fault that you were in danger because I rushed ahead. I'm sorry. I won't do that again," Molly promised.

"Why did you look so disappointed not to be dead?" Marissa asked.

"I wasn't. I was just mad that I put you two in danger," Molly said.

Oswin knew that she was lying, but she kept silent about it. "Never do that again, Molly," Oswin said.

"I won't okay. What are you, my mother?" Molly said in irritation.

Oswin and Marissa looked at each other in disbelief as they wondered what was wrong with her.

"Take Molly and teleport out of here now, Oswin," Marissa said.

Oswin and Molly both stared at her in defiance and didn't move. Marissa sighed and began to walk ahead of the others this time.

This time the transparent walls came down around all three of them. They were all trapped this time as the same hologram reappeared once more.

"This is the second test. The test of wisdom. This test has been configured based upon a biological scan of the majority of the inhabitants in this room which is human. Solve the following riddle or remain trapped in this cage forever. While traveling to the next town, I met ten people who had four dogs and two cats with them. Counting the dogs and cats, how many living beings in total are traveling to the next town?" the hologram asked.

The three women began to count up all of the people and the pets in their heads.

Molly spoke first as she said, "I know the answer. It's sixteen."

"That is incorrect," the hologram said.

"What? No, that's right. It has to be," Molly protested.

"It's not though. You forgot to add yourself. It said that you were traveling to the town too. The answer is seventeen," Marissa said.

"Oh, I'm so stupid! Of course!" Molly said as she hit herself in the head.

"That is incorrect," the hologram said once again.

"What?" both Marissa and Molly asked together in confusion this time.

"It's one," Oswin said.

"Correct. You have passed the test of wisdom as well. You may proceed," the hologram said as it vanished.

The walls disappeared once again freeing them. None of them moved forward this time, however, as Marissa and Molly stared at Oswin in confusion.

"How was that right?" Molly asked.

"It's a trick question. The only person who we know for sure is going to the next town is the speaker. The other people and animals are who the speaker says that they meet along the way. It's never specifically said in the riddle that they're going to the town too though. Do you get it now?" Oswin explained.

"That's pretty cool. I'm not sure that I ever would have gotten that," Molly said with a grin.

"I can't believe I didn't get that. My brain must be slowing down with age," Marissa said in frustration.

The three women began to move on ahead then until they came to a deep chasm that could only be passed by walking along a small wooden plank that could only hold one person at a time. Oswin went on ahead first this time. She was halfway across when she was rushed at by a man with a blaster.

Oswin briefly wondered how the man got in here through the debris in the front but didn't have too much time to think about it if she wanted to save herself from him. She blasted him with her gauntlets and sent him falling off of the plank. He lost his blaster in the abyss as he fell and grabbed onto the side of the plank for dear life.

The three women hurried across the wooden plank and made it safely to the other side. They started to go forward when they heard the man start crying for help. Oswin hesitated for a moment and then turned back to help him.

"What are you doing? He'll kill you," Molly warned.

"Let me do it. I can't die," Marissa said as she began to run behind Oswin.

Oswin raced on ahead anyway and helped the man get back onto the plank. The man smiled at her and disappeared along with the chasm.

The same hologram appeared again and said, "Third test completed. That was the test of compassion. You may enter the final chamber safely to claim your reward."

"It was all a test," Oswin said in surprise.

The woman continued into the next area, and a large door opened automatically to let them into the final chamber. They entered to see a large sarcophagus in the middle of the room. As they tried to walk towards it, a force field sprang up in front of them that Marissa and Molly slammed right into. Oswin however was able to continue walking right through it as though it wasn't even there!

"How?" Oswin asked as she saw Marissa and Molly still unable to go through the force field no matter how hard they tried.

The hologram appeared once more now as it said, "You and only you are allowed to claim the Scythe."

"Why just me?" Oswin asked.

"You are the only one to pass all three of the tests. You saved what you thought was a man who wanted to kill you even though it would have been to your advantage to leave him to die and passed the test of compassion even for the life of an enemy. You were the only one to guess the right answer to the test of wisdom. Finally, you alone passed the test of character when you were the only one who had something to lose and still thought of your friends first instead of yourself," the hologram said.

"Wait a minute. Molly didn't push the button. She was trying to save us," Marissa protested.

"Marissa told me to push the button. She was thinking about me not herself," Molly said.

"As I said, Oswin was the only one with something to lose. Marissa is immortal, and Molly wanted to die. Oswin was the only one who had a chance of losing her life and who wanted to keep it but decided to risk it for the safety of her friends," the hologram said.

"You wanted to die?" Marissa asked Molly in sadness.

"Don't look at me like that," Molly said as she looked away from her.

"You may proceed onto the sarcophagus and claim the Scythe of Anubus to do with as you wish. I must give you one final message before you do though. Once you have the Scythe, you will have the power of life and death over ever creature in the universe in your hands. Please consider everything that you do with it wisely," the hologram pleaded.

"I only wish to use it to take away the immortality of my friend so that she can live a normal life," Oswin said.

"This is your last chance. Turn back now before it's too late. Once you use the Scythe, it will be too late," the hologram warned.

"I just want to use it once to help my friend, and then I'll leave it here. I don't want to keep it," Oswin said.

"For even a single use of the Scythe, there are consequences. Are you willing to pay them in order to help your friend?" the hologram asked sadly.

"Yes," Oswin said without hesitation.

"So be it. I hope for your sake that you can live with the consequences of the choice that you have made here today," the hologram said as it disappeared.

Oswin then walked toward the sarcophagus and moved the lid of it aside. She saw a mummified body there holding a long scythe. She pried the scythe out of the mummy's hands and held it in hers.

The force field vanished then allowing Marissa and Molly to finally join her. As they got to her, Oswin said to Marissa, "I hope that I don't do this wrong. I think that it must respond to mental commands so maybe if I just command it with my thoughts to just destroy the Regenerative Element then it will."

Oswin concentrated as she took the Scythe and cut a very small mark across the back of Marissa's hand with it. The three women each held their breath in anticipation as they all waited for the cut to instantly heal just like every other wound that Marissa had ever received had since becoming immortal. When it didn't heal, they knew that the Regenerative Element was gone for good.

"I'm cured!" Marissa said happily.

"Oswin, you did it," Molly said as she looked at Oswin with joy.

That was the first time that she noticed that something was wrong. Marissa followed her gaze and saw that Oswin looked as though she were sick. She kept holding her head and shaking it as off she were confused or in a daze.

"Oswin, is something wrong?" Molly asked.

Oswin finally looked at her with a wide grin all over her face as she held the Scythe out threateningly in front of her. She began to move towards both women now with the grin growing wider and wider the closer that she got to them.

"Do you still want to die, Molly? I can do that now. I can give you what you want. My Scythe needs more energy. It needs more than just immortality now. It needs a life, and I will give it one. Sacrifice yourself to me, and I will spare Marissa. The Scythe only requires one life in order to fill its hunger . . . for now," Oswin said in a voice filled with glee.

"Oswin, what are you saying?" Molly asked in terror.

"Drop it, Oswin. Drop it!" Marissa ordered her.

"The Scythe must have more energy. It needs it. I need it," Oswin said.

To their horror, Marissa and Molly could see Oswin starting to change right in front of them. She was beginning to resemble the hologram that they had been seeing through the tests here. She was being changed into an Osirian.

"What's happening?" Molly asked in an upset voice.

The hologram reappeared one last time as it answered her question by saying, "She has activated the Scythe by using it to steal the immortality of your friend. Now the Scythe has her in its power and is making her into its new servant. The Scythe is a living sentient weapon. It requires the life forces of others in order to survive. In order to gain those lives, it possesses and controls a host who will then use it to get those lives for its continued survival. It will transform the host to whatever form that it feels will best serve its purpose and give them whatever power that they need in order to accomplish their goals. The Scythe knows the Osirian form and not the human one so it is transforming her into a form that it is familiar with and can easily fix if it becomes damaged. Your friend is now forever lost. Flee now or become her victims!"

Marissa and Molly fled before Oswin as she raced towards them with the Scythe. She cackled and laughed as she followed them back to Marissa's TARDIS. The two women got inside the TARDIS and dematerialized it just as Oswin reached them. She was now only half human in appearance and still rapidly changing by the moment.

"No matter. I will be free of this place, and then I will find the life that my weapon needs elsewhere. I will soon feed its hunger one way or the other," Oswin said.

The Scythe began to glow as she used its power to disappear from the tomb. She reappeared outside and began to walk across the ruined planet's surface as she looked at the stars in the night sky above her.

"There. I will go to that one. She knew that one well. Sol Three in Mutter Spiral. There are plenty of lives there. Enough lives to last us at least a couple of weeks," Oswin said as she disappeared from sight.

As Oswin headed for the Earth, Marissa and Molly raced towards the only group who they could find on short notice that they knew could help their friend as they headed for the secret Dalek Resistance base on Peladon. They had to get their help in order to save her. They both hoped against hope that she would be okay as they wondered if even the Daleks could save her now.

Both Marissa and Molly were thinking it, but neither of them wanted to say it. Was it already too late to help her? In order to save Oswin from a life of endless servitude would the Daleks have to kill her?

**Next: Oswin vs. Dalek Epsilon and the Dalek Resistance as they have to fight their beloved Empress in order to stop her from destroying the human race. Isn't that a switch? **


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Oswin appeared on Earth as a full Osirian now as she walked toward UNIT HQ. This was the place where she was most likely to find some victims. She could take as many as she wished here because there were many soldiers on this base to quench her scythe's hunger.

As she walked toward the base, she was met by immediate opposition as the soldiers began to fire on her. She laughed at their bullets as they had no effect on her new form. The scythe projected a powerful blast from its head that tore the ground apart in front of her and sent several of the soldiers running for cover.

She continued to walk forward unopposed and smiled as she finally found her first victim. She quickly raised her scythe over her head to take the life of a scared soldier lying helpless before her. She smiled to herself as she prepared to feed her scythe's hunger at last.

Then she suddenly stopped herself in mid-swing. This was wrong. She could feel that. She was finding it harder and harder to remember why, but she knew deep down in her gut that what she was about to do was wrong.

She turned around and started to leave. She had no idea where she was going, but she had to get away from here before it was too late. Somehow she knew that the first life that she took with the scythe would bind her to it forever. She couldn't let that happen. She had to free herself from it somehow.

Several Daleks from the Dalek Resistance suddenly appeared in front of her led by Dalek Epsilon. They would ordinarily start firing on any foe immediately but not this time. This time they were all hesitating because they would be firing on someone that they all cared about. In fact, Oswin was the only being that any of these Daleks had ever felt any connection to in their lives. They didn't really understand the emotions that they felt for her but even they knew that they were there.

None of the Daleks wanted to be the first to attack Oswin. They all stood there floating above her as they waited for her to make the first move.

"PLEASE LET US HELP YOU, OSWIN. MAYBE WE CAN FIND A WAY TO SEPARATE YOU FROM THE WEAPON'S INFLUENCE," Epsilon said.

"If you want to help me, then stand still and let me kill you. My scythe is hungry, and it doesn't care who or what it kills," Oswin said as she fell under the scythe's control once again.

"IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY, EM- OSWIN. WE DON'T WISH TO EXTERMINATE YOU, BUT WE WILL IF WE HAVE TO," Epsilon threatened.

"Oh, that's rich. Now I've heard of everything. Daleks who don't want to mindlessly kill? What will they think of next? People who don't always meet each other in the correct order? Oh, wait a minute!" Oswin mocked them.

She began to run toward them with the scythe with a crazed look on her face. The Daleks all quickly moved out of her way and avoided each and every one of her attacks as she did her best to destroy them.

"STUN HER," Epsilon ordered.

All of the Daleks reluctantly opened fire on her with their gun stalks as they attempted to stun her into unconsciousness. After hitting her on their full stun settings several times however, they quickly realized that their weapons were having no effect on her whatsoever. The scythe was protecting her from them.

"Was that supposed to do something to me? I barely even felt it. You'll have to do better than that in order to survive," Oswin said.

"WE DO NOT WISH TO KILL YOU," Epsilon admitted.

"You're going to have to in order to stop me. Don't you understand? You have to kill me," Oswin said.

Epsilon could tell now that this was Oswin trying to break through to him. She was pleading with him to end this before she killed someone.

He couldn't do it though. He couldn't make himself kill the one who had showed him the truth about himself and had made him realize just how limited and pointless that his life had been before he had met her. He couldn't kill his Empress no matter what even if it meant that he himself would die, and he knew that all of the others felt exactly the same way.

"I CANNOT," Epsilon finally admitted.

"Please," Oswin pleaded as tears began to fall from her eyes.

Molly suddenly came running out of nowhere at that moment and didn't stop until she was standing right in front of Oswin. She now stood there with her arms spread out in front of her and leaving herself wide open to any possible attack that she might make on her.

"If you want to kill someone, then kill me and leave everyone else alone. I have no reason to live anymore, Oswin. My family are all gone. The Daleks killed them all when they attacked my town. Ever since that day, I don't want to live any more. I want to go be with them wherever they are. There's nothing here in this world for me anymore. It's all just empty and pointless. Just end it, Oswin. End it. I want you to. Do it!" Molly screamed at her as the pain that she had been hiding inside of her all of this time came gushing out of her.

"You lied to me," Oswin said in what almost sounded like her normal tone of voice.

"Yes, of course I did. I wanted to convince myself that they were somewhere else where they were safe and unaffected by what had happened. That was much better than the truth. I lied to myself for a while in order to keep going, and then I couldn't do that anymore. That's when I started trying to get myself into dangerous situations. So far though, I haven't gotten lucky and gotten myself killed. That's why I need you to do this, Oswin. Do it now before I lose my nerve!" Molly said in a highly emotional voice that kept breaking while she tried to hold back her painful sobs.

"I'm sorry. You should have told me. I could have helped. We could have talked about it," Oswin said as she started acting like her normal self again.

The Daleks looked on hopefully as they watched the emotional scene unfolding before them. Dalek Epsilon began to hope now that Molly was starting to get through to her by unintentionally appealing to her caring nature. The irony of a Dalek actually feeling a sense of hope about anything was lost on him in that moment.

"It doesn't matter. Nothing would have helped me anyway. Just do it. Kill me. KILL ME!" Molly screamed at Oswin with every ounce of emotion that she could muster.

She then sank to her knees and buried her head in her hands as she broke down sobbing. She was totally helpless before Oswin now. She would never even see it coming. It was better that way.

"Well, you asked for it and here it comes!" Oswin said as the scythe took control of her once more.

She began to swing the scythe right at Molly as she sat there helplessly. Suddenly Molly looked up at her as she saw the blade coming and screamed, "Please don't! I changed my mind. I don't want to die. Stop!"

Right before the scythe would have reached Molly, Oswin redirected it away from her at the last minute and hit the ground next to her with it instead with such an impact that it made the entire earth shake.

Molly finally realized just how close that she had just come to actually dying, and she passed out from the shock of it all.

"I know you don't. You just wanted someone to realize that you needed help," Oswin said to the unconscious girl lying in front of her.

Oswin then let go of the scythe with a tremendous force of will as she automatically started changing back to her normal self. The scythe was doing everything in its power to keep her bound to its will, but she was finally successfully fighting back now. She was no longer going to be its puppet anymore.

_Come back to me, and I will give you power beyond your wildest dreams. Surrender your cares and all of your worries to me, and let me take care of you. I can give you everything that you need. Think about this. You can live forever, and everyone would bow to your will as unlimited power would be yours. All would fear you and do whatever you wanted. All you have to do is feed me. Feed me a few insignificant lives like that girl's._ The scythe called out to her in her mind.

"I only have one thing to say to you," Oswin said out loud as she now became her full human self once more.

_That you accept?_ The scythe asked with a smug sense of victory in its mental voice.

"Tell Anubus I said hello when you see him," Oswin said as she unleashed twin blasts from both of her gauntlets at full power straight into the scythe at the same time.

There was a blinding flash of light, and a scream that pierced the soul of everyone nearby as the Scythe of Anubus finally joined its owner in death. It then disintegrated into a pile of ashes that were swiftly blown away on the wind as though they were never there.

Oswin stood in triumph with a smile of gratitude on her face. She was free. She had done it. It was over at last.

"THAT IS WHY YOU ARE THE EMPRESS," Epsilon said.

Oswin wasn't listening though. She was checking Molly's vital signs to make sure that she was okay. She let out a cry of joy when she realized that she hadn't harmed her. Molly was going to be okay.

Marissa finally arrived on the scene in her TARDIS and ran out of it breathlessly with a worried look on her face. As soon as she saw that Oswin was human again, she looked at her with a huge smile of relief as she knew that the danger was finally over with now.

"You're a little late, aren't you? What kept you?" Oswin asked with a grin.

"I was trying to come up with a way to save you that didn't involve killing you. Molly slipped out while I was deep in thought about it. I never even noticed that she was gone until just now," Marissa admitted guiltily.

"Neither of us seemed to notice her when she needed us to. That's going to change from now on. I promise," Oswin said as she looked at Molly with a determined look on her face. She swore to herself that she was going to help her friend through this no matter what.

Far off in the ruined Tomb of Anubus, the hologram that had guided Oswin through her tests smiled to itself. It now knew that it had finally succeeded in finding a way to free itself at last as it could feel that the scythe was gone.

The tests had finally done the job that they had been designed to do so long ago. They were designed to find a noble person who would be able to resist the scythe so that person would be the only one to be able to get through to it while those of lesser character would be kept away from it.

The designers of the tomb had not been able to destroy the scythe because they were all proven to be too susceptible to its corrupting influence to be able to get near enough to it to do the job themselves. Therefore, they had placed the hologram and the tests here until the right person would come along who would possess enough will and moral character to finally destroy it forever.

"Free. Free at last. Thank you," the hologram said as it switched itself off for the last time.

Its job was finally done at last.

**Next: Oswin has a heart to heart talk with Molly as she tries to help her work through her problems. Maybe giving her a position at the new school that's starting up could help. Meanwhile, Koschei appears and meets Shehzadi for the first time. He'll have many questions for Marissa now including just who Shehzadi's father is and why she wants someone as dangerous as her on her ship. Oh, and things get even more complicated as Lissa picks that moment to visit and Koschei meets his future daughter for the first time. **


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Oswin knocked on Molly's door and waited for her to say that she could come in. Molly never said a word though, and Oswin began to get worried. She hoped that she hadn't done anything drastic.

Oswin knew that she probably shouldn't do what she was about to do, but she had to be sure that Molly was alright. She used her temporal shift to appear inside of Molly's room to see that Molly was lying on her bed looking at her in shock and anger.

"So, I have no privacy now, is that it?" Molly asked in anger.

"No, of course not. I was just worried that maybe you had . . . ," Oswin said, and then she trailed off because she didn't want to talk about the fact that Molly was suicidal.

"Killed myself?" Molly asked.

"Yes," Oswin said.

Molly looked at her in anger for a moment, and then her expression softened as she could see the worry and concern for her on Oswin's face. She knew that Oswin cared a great deal about her, and that she wasn't just saying that. How else could she overcome the incredible power of the Scythe of Anubus otherwise?

"I'm alright. I won't hurt myself, okay? I promise. I don't want to die anymore. I think that maybe I have a new reason to go on now. I have a new big sister to take care of me whether I want her to or not," Molly said with a warm smile.

"I've just grown used to having you around. You wouldn't want me to have to go to all of the trouble of finding a new sidekick, would you? I mean the interview procession alone would be murder," Oswin said grinning.

"Knowing you it just might be. What's this about a sidekick though? I'm more than just your sidekick," Molly said.

"Yes, you are," Oswin said.

Oswin then surprised Molly by hugging her tightly. She held her in the hug for several minutes until she finally let her go.

"Don't ever, ever do anything like you did before when I was possessed by the Scythe again. Promise me that," Oswin said sternly.

"I won't, Oswin. I won't," Molly said as she looked her straight in the eye.

"I want you to keep to that promise, okay? I love you, Molly, and I don't want anything to happen to you. You're just like the little sister that I never had," Oswin said.

"I love you too, Sis, or maybe I should say Mom. You act more like I'm a little kid sometimes," Molly joked.

"Stop acting like one then if you don't want to be treated like one, and don't call me Mom. I'm much too young and cute to be your Mom. I'm your slightly older sister at the most," Oswin joked.

"Modesty isn't one of your virtues is it, Sis?" Molly said.

"No. I'm afraid not. Are you going to keep calling me Sis?" Oswin asked.

"Yep. Got a problem with that?" Molly challenged.

"No. I kind of like it actually," Oswin said as she kissed her on the forehead.

"I was thinking, Sis, that I would like to be a teacher at this new school that your friend, Rose, is setting up. I know that Janine will vouch for me if they need a character reference. Do you think that you could talk to her about it?" Molly asked.

"Yeah, of course. I bet that I can convince Rose to give you a shot at it. I have a lot of pull with her," Oswin said as she winked at her.

"Thank you, Oswin. I appreciate that. Maybe if I do that, I'll start feeling like I have a purpose in life again," Molly said.

"I think that she'll let you do it, Molly. Don't worry about it. I'll let you know for sure as soon as I can. Are you going to be alright?" Oswin asked.

"Yeah. I'm going to be fine. Don't worry about me, Sis," Molly said.

"Are you going to answer me when I knock from now on then instead of worrying me?" Oswin asked.

"Yeah. I'm sorry for not answering before. I just wasn't ready to face you yet after what happened. I was embarrassed by it," Molly admitted.

"I just wanted to know if you were alright. I'll never barge in on you like that again I promise," Oswin said.

"Good. I might actually want some privacy sometimes after all," Molly said.

"You'll get it, Mol," Oswin reassured her.

"Don't call me that," Molly said as she pretended to be angry.

"Okay, Mol. I'll see you later," Oswin said as she left her room.

Molly continued to smile even after she left. She was so happy that she finally had a family and someone to talk to again.

Marissa was waiting on Oswin when she left the room, and she asked, "Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she's going to be fine. She even keeps calling me Sis," Oswin said happily.

"I'm sure you love that," Marissa chuckled.

"I do actually. It's nice to have another sister," Oswin said as she looked pointedly at Marissa.

Marissa smiled at her. The two of them were sisters in every way now, and they both knew it even if they rarely spoke of it out loud.

"I just hope that she doesn't start calling me Mum. I have enough problems with daughters lately as it is. I wouldn't mind being Big Sis though," Marissa said.

"You're a little old to be Big Sis. You should be Auntie Mari instead or maybe Gran," Oswin said giggling.

"Don't start with the old jokes! I think that I still look pretty good for my age," Marissa said proudly.

"'Pretty good'?! Ha! I say that you're the most beautiful woman in the universe, but I might be a bit biased considering that I'm madly in love with you and all of that," Koschei said as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere walking toward them with a mad grin on his face.

Marissa's face lit up with a huge smile as she met him in the middle of the hallway and kissed him. Oswin smiled as she watched them. She was so happy for her.

Now if only she could find someone. Lately though she was a little too busy plotting a Dalek revolution to look for a boyfriend. For her to meet anyone at the moment, they would have to drop out of thin air and right into her lap. It was too bad that life didn't work out that way she thought to herself wistfully. Wish for a boyfriend and poof! There they are. Wouldn't that be convenient?

"I used the key to your TARDIS that you gave me in case of emergencies. I hope that you don't mind," Koschei said as he held his extra key up for her to see.

"No. You're always welcome here. Why are you here though?" Marissa asked.

"Does there have to be a reason? Can't I just come over to visit?" Koschei asked with an innocent expression on his face.

"Based on past experience, I'd have to say no. You always come to see me for a reason," Marissa said bluntly.

"You know me so well," Koschei said as he smiled at her.

"Yes, I do, and I know when something's bothering you. So what is it?" Marissa said as she got straight to the point.

Oswin loved that about her. She was not one to tiptoe around a problem or try to avoid it. She would immediately take charge of a situation and confront it directly.

"I found out from the Doctor about this so-called daughter of yours, Shehzadi. Why is it that I've never heard of her before now, and what is she doing here unsupervised on your ship if she's as dangerous as the Doctor claims?" Koschei asked.

"The Doctor needs to keep his mouth shut. Maybe I'll have to pay him a visit sometime to remind him about that," Marissa said as her usual kind expression darkened for a moment in an unusual display of raw, unbridled anger.

Oswin shivered as she saw this. That was not the woman that she knew. She was sure that she was getting a glimpse of what was left of the Rani in that moment, and she didn't like it. The woman that she knew was far too kind and gentle to have such darkness in her. Surely all of that was gone now, wasn't it?

Marissa put her hand on Oswin's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. She had let her old self show for just a moment and had upset Oswin. She hadn't meant to do that, and she was deeply sorry about it.

She usually kept her darker nature under better control than that, but the Doctor and Koschei both had a way of bringing the worst out of her without even half trying. They both would drive her crazy if she let them.

Oswin felt a little better as the Mari that she knew smiled back at her. She hoped that she never saw that other side of her again. If that was even a small glimpse of what the Rani had been like, then she must have been truly disturbing to have been around in person. She was going to make sure that Mari never became that horrible person ever again if it was the last thing that she did.

"Look, I don't want to make you angry. I just want you to answer my questions. I'm worried about you being alone with that woman here if even half of what the Doctor told me about her is true," Koschei said.

"'That woman' is my daughter," Marissa said indignantly.

"Why is it that I've never heard of her then? I've known you since we were children, and you've never mentioned her once," Koschei said.

"It's because I didn't know how you'd react. I didn't want to hurt you," Marissa admitted.

Oswin could tell that this was becoming very personal so she started to slowly and silently leave the area. She didn't feel comfortable being here for this even though she was dying to learn more about Shehzadi personally.

"Oswin, you don't need to do that. I don't have any secrets from you," Marissa said as she noticed her trying to leave.

"I agree. You're like a part of the family, Oswin," Koschei said warmly.

"Thank you," Oswin said appreciatively to both of them.

Marissa smiled to herself as she realized that Koschei didn't realize the irony in what he had just said. He used to hate humans for a passion, and now he was thinking of one of them as family and even being nice to her. Oh, how far he'd come!

"Sometime in my fourth incarnation, I once made myself human in order to escape from a little bit of trouble that I had with the Sontarans. It seems that they declared war on me because I once snuck onto their breeding planet and experimented on one of their clone embryos and made it female just to see if I could. The female Sontaran tried to make herself Queen and staged a coup. She caused them a lot of trouble from what I hear. Apparently, the Sontarans didn't take too kindly to that. I hid from them for a few years on Earth sometime in the early 1800s in England as a rich heiress under the name of Miranda Blake," Marissa said.

"Miranda? Marissa? What's with all of the M names? Were you thinking of me when you did that, Ushas?" Koschei joked.

"No, not in the slightest," Marissa said with a serious look on her face.

"You have a way of wounding a man that cuts right to the bone, Ushas," Koschei said with a frown.

Marissa took pity on him and gave him a quick kiss that made his face immediately lighten up considerably. Oswin now wanted a boyfriend more than ever. She didn't have anyone to taunt that way.

Marissa continued her story as she said, "I spent a few years alone as Miranda until I came across a man who I fell in love with named William Lytton. We became very serious about each other."

"How serious?" Koschei asked in a tone of pure jealousy.

"I married him," Marissa admitted.

Koschei's face turned bright red in anger, and Oswin looked at her in shock. She'd never heard this story before.

"My memory had been wiped. I didn't even remember who I was. I certainly couldn't remember you," Marissa protested.

"What time and place was this that you were in exactly?" Koschei asked in anger.

"Why? What does that matter now?" Marissa asked.

"I plan on going back there and killing him before he met you," Koschei said in a completely serious voice.

"No, you're not," Marissa said defiantly.

Koschei looked at her in shock as he said, "You still love him even now."

"Yes. It's not like you never fell in love with a human. Does the name Lucy Saxon ring a bell?" Marissa said.

Koschei said nothing. A look of regret and sorrow quickly came over his face though, and Marissa wondered if he actually had cared about Lucy in his own warped way.

"I'm sorry. I know that was a low blow," Marissa said.

"Just continue with the story. What happened to this man?" Koschei said in a distracted voice.

"We were together for a few years, and then he died in the Napoleonic Wars. Just before he left though, I became pregnant with Shehzadi. It was right after I learned that he died that I remembered who I really was, and I opened my fob watch. The shock of his death caused me to reject my human life so completely that the Rani reemerged almost instantly," Marissa explained.

"Wait a minute. Do you mean that you were still pregnant when you changed back?" Oswin asked.

"Yes," Marissa admitted with a shamed look on her face.

"Wouldn't that do something to the baby?" Oswin asked.

"Yes, it would. Such a sudden change in species like that could affect a still unborn child in many negative ways. There could be birth defects, loss of limbs, brain damage, or even insanity. No wonder Shehzadi turned out to be like she is," Koschei said.

"I didn't realize what I was doing! I would never willingly endanger her!" Marissa shouted as Koschei's words struck a nerve.

He immediately put his arms around her and said softly, "I know you wouldn't. I never meant to say that. It wasn't your fault."

"Shehzadi seems okay to me," Oswin said in an optimistic tone.

"What if he's right though? What if her callous disregard for life is my fault? What if I did that to her when she would have been normal if not for me?" Marissa said sadly.

"You didn't do anything to me, Mum. I'm fine," Shehzadi said from behind them all.

"How do I know that? I still wonder about that even now," Marissa said in a guilty voice.

Shehzadi came up to her and embraced her as she said, "I'm fine. I know that the things that I did upset you, but I had to do them. If I hadn't, then the Thorn would have found me and killed me."

"You didn't have to kill, Shehzadi," Marissa said sternly.

"Maybe I was wrong. If I had it to do all over again, I'd probably do it differently now," Shehzadi said.

"Probably? That really reassures me. How do I know that you won't attack your mother or her friends, and then say the same thing later on about them," Koschei said coldly to her.

"I'd never hurt her! Never!" Shehzadi shouted in an emotional voice.

"How do I know that?" Koschei asked.

"Leave her alone," Marissa said firmly.

"You know you're the last one who should be questioning me. You've done a lot of terrible things, Mr. Saxon. Things that are a lot worse than anything that I've done," Shehzadi said.

Koschei was silent as he knew that what she said was the truth. He realized that he was being a hypocrite, but he was very worried about Marissa being alone with her.

"You have no right to say anything to him. At least he changed and is trying to be better. You can't even admit that you did anything wrong," a voice said out of nowhere.

"Oh, great! That's just what we needed. World War III," Oswin sighed as she saw who had just spoken.

Lissa had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was staring at Shehzadi like she wanted to rip her apart while Shehzadi looked at her as if she would gladly do the same. Oswin knew that this could get ugly very quickly because there was definitely no love lost between these two sisters at all.

"Who are you?" Koschei asked as he stared at her intently.

He could feel some kind of connection to her instantly. It was as if he knew her somehow, even though he knew that he had never seen her before now.

"Uh, I'm no one. You never saw me. Forget that I was ever here," Lissa said as she realized that she had made a mistake in revealing herself to him.

As she reached for her Vortex Manipulator to leave, Marissa stopped her by putting her hand over it. The two of them then exchanged a silent wordless glance that made Lissa stop in her tracks. She suddenly stood still as she waited to see what her mother would say next.

"Is this another daughter that you've had with yet another one of your long lost loves that I've never heard of?" Koschei asked bitterly.

"No," Marissa said.

"Who is she then?" Koschei asked.

"She is my daughter, Koschei, but not the daughter of another man. She's yours from the future," Marissa said.

"Mum!" Lissa said in a worried voice.

"I think it'll be okay. I don't see how this could hurt anything," Marissa said.

"Okay but if I suddenly start disappearing out of existence it's all going to be your fault," Lissa said.

"You watch too many movies," Marissa said as she shook her head at her.

"Maybe Rose can save you if that does happen. It worked for me," Oswin said with a grin.

Koschei just kept staring at her. He knew that it was true. She was his. He instantly felt a wave of emotion come over him as he raced to her to hug her.

"I'm so happy to meet you. You're as beautiful as your mother," Koschei said with joy.

"I'm beautiful on the inside too. I'm the good daughter," Lissa said proudly.

"Shut up," Shehzadi said in a low voice.

Marissa whispered something to her in an attempt to calm her down as she tried to defuse her growing anger toward Koschei and Lissa. Whatever she had said to her seemed to work in calming her down as Shehzadi quickly became quiet.

Oswin was wisely staying out of this whole mess. Shehzadi didn't seem to have anything against her, and she wanted to keep it that way. She was afraid that she did have to side with Koschei on this one though. She didn't trust Shehzadi one bit and was worried to have the others around such a volatile person as her.

"She's staying, Koschei. I want to help her to realize just how wrong that she was to do what she did. I have to give her a chance to change just like the chance that you and I had. She won't hurt anyone else I assure you of that," Marissa said firmly.

"I just don't want you to regret this. I worry about you," Koschei said.

"You worry too much. Have faith in me a little more, and stop treating me like a porcelain doll. Besides, I have the Empress of the Daleks here to help me. No one's going to mess with her," Marissa said with a grin.

Koschei started to laugh as Lissa looked confused. She didn't think that anyone would be calling Oswin that just yet. It was too early for it.

Oswin rolled her eyes at Marissa. She wished that she would stop making jokes about that. She wasn't the Empress of anything nor did she want to be.

"I know that I'm certainly terrified of her," Shehzadi said with what looked like a near smile on her face.

"See? Oswin scares everybody. She's mad, bad, and dangerous to know," Marissa said laughing.

"Now she's starting to sound like me," Koschei said with a wicked grin.

"Please tell me that's not how the future will see me," Oswin said to Lissa. She wasn't really expecting an answer of course.

"I'd say quite the opposite of that really," Lissa said, surprising Oswin.

She could tell her no more than that. The Empress of the Daleks would be revered throughout the universe as the bringer of a new age of peace and prosperity. Everyone everywhere would know her story, and she would become a hero to many.

Lissa wanted to tell her that and much more, but she couldn't. Just like she couldn't warn her or her mother about what was just around the corner for both of them. Lissa knew that it was about to happen soon now.

Silence was about to fall.

**Next: Part 2 of my big Silence storyline, Silence falls over the Earth, happens here next time as the Silence carry out their final plan to destroy the Doctor and prevent him from going to Trenzalore. What part will Oswin play in all of this, and what shocking secret does she discover about herself during it? I'll give you a hint. It has to do with the Scythe of Anubus. Come on, you didn't really think that I would let that go so easily, did you? **


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story is continued from The Adventures of Rose Tyler, Time Lady Chapter 74.**

Silence Falls Over the Earth Part 2

"I'm not going to say it again, Kovarian. Let Colonel Mace go and surrender yourselves now, or my Daleks are going to tear you and your little crafty little minions apart," Oswin threatened.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. For you see, I have some allies of my own," Kovarian said as she pushed a button on her Vortex Manipulator.

Instants later, hundreds of Cybermen arrived out of nowhere and began firing on Oswin's Daleks. In addition to the Cybermen, several Headless Monks and Silence joined into the fight as well.

"EXTERMINATE THEM!" Oswin's Daleks started shouting as they started to fight back against the Cybermen.

Oswin meanwhile started running toward Kovarian. If she could capture her, then maybe the Silence would surrender. It was worth a shot anyway.

"It won't be that easy to capture me, Miss Oswald. For you see, I can bring in new reinforcements in the blink of an eye," Kovarian said as she touched yet another button on her Vortex Manipulator.

Queen Xanxia, Magnus Greel, Mr. Sin, the Monk, Eldrad, and a newly built duplicate of the recently destroyed Mr. Thanatos suddenly appeared next to Kovarian via transmat. Oswin put up her force field and charged up her gauntlets as she prepared to do battle with them.

"As you can see, I've brought some friends with me," Kovarian said with an evil grin.

"So did I," Oswin said as Marissa's TARDIS materialized behind her.

Marissa, Koschei, Shehzadi, and Lissa came out of the TARDIS and stood next to her. Now things were more even! Oswin thought to herself as the two sides began to face off against one another.

Suddenly Cassiopeia arrived in between both groups after having used her Vortex Manipulator to get there, and Shehzadi's eyes widened in fear. Oswin had heard from Rose that she was on their side now, but she wasn't sure if she would stay that way or not if Kovarian sank her claws back into her here. She would have to watch out for her and make sure that she stayed herself.

"Hello, Thorn! Exactly where have you been all of this time? Ah, well. It's better that you came late than never I suppose. You've come back just in time to help us defeat Rose Tyler's friends and to take over this planet in the name of the Silence," Kovarian said.

"I'm on their side now. The side of my mother," Cassiopeia said.

"I am your mother, dear. Rose Tyler abandoned you," Kovarian said.

"Liar! You stole me from her. Now, I'm going to pay you back for that. Oh, and by the way, my name is Cassiopeia!" Cassiopeia said as she came to stand next to Oswin now.

Shehzadi moved away from her and was visibly shaking in fear now. Cassiopeia looked at her sadly and said, "I'm sorry, Shehzadi. I promise that you're safe from me. I don't work for Kovarian anymore."

Shehzadi looked at Cassiopeia's eyes and saw the truth of what she had said in them. She could tell now that something had changed about Cassiopeia since the last time that she saw her. She nodded and began to relax.

"If you stand with them against me, then you will die with them," Kovarian said.

"Gladly," Cassiopeia said.

"Kill them. All of them," Kovarian said coldly.

The new Mr. Thanatos began to attack first and fired deadly projectiles in all directions with one hand while he pulled out a sword from inside of himself to hold in the other one. He began to use it to start hacking away at Oswin and her allies.

Oswin poured energy from both of her gauntlets into the robot at the same time which caused him to fall over for a moment before he quickly got back up again. In the blink of an eye, he appeared right next to Oswin and almost impaled her on his sword. Luckily, Oswin was just a little bit quicker than he was though and used her temporal shift ability to quickly get out of the way of the sword just in the nick of time.

Cassiopeia then appeared behind the robot out of nowhere and melted it into slag with a single gesture as golden white energy poured out of her hand. The robot wasn't even finished melting yet before Cassiopeia walked through its remains in order to go after Kovarian.

Oswin was impressed and smiled at her. She shouldn't be too surprised though. This was Rose's daughter after all.

Then to Oswin's horror, the robot began to reassemble himself. He was suddenly back together again and ready to fight within a minute.

"That's new. Rose never said that he could do that," Oswin said in surprise.

"He couldn't before. This new Mr. Thanatos has had a few improvements however. Now he's made out of nanotech that will rebuild him every time that he has been destroyed. This time no one can destroy him for long!" Greel boasted.

"He uses nanotech! Really? Did you even do any research on me at all?" Oswin asked as she began to laugh at him.

Oswin began to pour her own specialized Dalek nanogenes out of a special slot in her gauntlets. The nanogenes began to rewrite Mr. Thanatos' programming instantly, and he now came to stand next to Oswin protectively now.

"All hail the Empress!" Mr. Thanatos said as he spoke for the first time.

"What?!" Greel asked in complete shock.

"He works for me now. You made a huge mistake telling me that he was made out of nanotech. I mastered that a long time ago, Greel. I even rewrote his programming to allow him to speak just for the fun of it," Oswin said with a grin.

Now Mr. Thanatos began to move forward to attack the Silence and their allies as Greel himself came after Oswin now. As he moved within range of her, Greel attempted to use his portable extraction chamber, which could steal the life force from others and give it to him, on Oswin.

To his complete surprise, the device didn't work on her. He tried it again and again, but it had no effect at all.

"Something wrong?" Oswin asked with a giggle.

"My device should have drained the life force from you in less than a minute, but it didn't work. What did you do to it?" Greel cried out in irritation.

"I didn't do anything to it at all, Pig Face. It's still working fine. It just doesn't affect me. You see a funny thing happened to me recently. I was possessed by the Scythe of Anubus, and I discovered that it gave me an immunity to having my life force drained. I discovered it when someone tried to use something similar on me not too long ago. Weird, huh?" Oswin said happily.

"This is not possible. My technology should work no matter what!" Greel said in anger.

"Tell that to the Osirians. They're the ones who did this to me," Oswin said.

"I will destroy you. Mr. Sin, kill her!" Greel commanded his puppet like cyborg assassin.

Mr. Sin pulled out a knife and leapt at Oswin like a wild animal before Oswin could raise her force field in time. She grabbed ahold of the arm with the knife however and held the knife away from her as she wrestled with the surprisingly strong artificial man.

Then to Oswin's surprise, she saw that her hands were glowing. Mr. Sin began to scream and dropped the knife as he slumped over onto the ground. Oswin meanwhile felt newly energized as if she had rested for a week.

"No! I've still got the life absorbing powers from the Scythe too. I never wanted those," Oswin said in a very upset voice.

"Mr. Sin?" Greel asked in fear.

"He's not dead. I let go of him once I realized what was happening," Oswin said in a shaky voice.

"Don't worry about her. She's no threat to us. She's too shocked by what just happened to be a threat for the moment. Help me with the robot and Cassiopeia. They're the most dangerous ones here," Kovarian ordered Greel.

"I resent that remark," Koschei said.

"So do I. I'm the most dangerous woman in the universe," Lissa said proudly.

"My daughter, ladies and gentlemen," Marissa said with chagrin.

All of them more than held their own against Kovarian and her group while the Cybermen continued to fight with the Daleks in the background. Oswin meanwhile, unnoticed by everyone, had stopped fighting and was standing there in shock.

She was terrified of her new ability and afraid that it might mean that she could still be possessed by the Scythe in some way. She had hoped that she had freed herself from it, but it seemed that she hadn't. At least when she drained Mr. Sin's life force, it hadn't caused her to start hungering for more of it like the Scythe had made her do. Not yet anyway.

That was what was worrying her at the moment. She was so terrified of accidently draining someone's life force that she had been shocked into immobility for fear of doing it again and somehow turning back into the Scythe's slave once more.

"EMPRESS?" Dalek Epsilon finally asked as he noticed her standing there without moving and flew over to her.

"I think I'm being infected by the Scythe again," Oswin said in a scared voice. She was so upset that she hadn't even told Epsilon not to call her Empress as she usually did.

Epsilon scanned her quickly and said in a gentle tone, "NEGATIVE. THE LIFE FORCE DRAINING TOUCH AND IMMUNITY TO HAVING YOUR OWN LIFE FORCE DRAINED ARE NOTHING BUT LEFTOVERS OF YOUR POSSESSION BY THE SCYTHE. IT ALTERED YOUR BODY IN ORDER TO GIVE YOU THOSE ABILITIES SO THAT YOU COULD FEED IT MORE EFFICIENTLY. I AM READING NO OTHER NEW ABILITIES HOWEVER. THERE IS NO OTHER CONSCIOUSNESS IN YOUR MIND, EMPRESS. DO NOT WORRY."

"Are you sure?" Oswin asked.

"YES, EMPRESS," Epsilon said.

"Thank you. You've just made me feel a lot better. I never want to be turned into that thing the Scythe made me into ever again," Oswin said in relief.

"I WOULD NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN TO YOU AGAIN, EMPRESS. I WOULD RATHER DIE FIRST," Epsilon said.

"I know. I don't want you to have to do that though, Eppy. I've gotten used to having you around," Oswin said as her usual cheerful demeanor returned now.

"AS I HAVE YOU, EMPRESS," Epsilon said.

"You've been calling me Empress this entire time, haven't you?" Oswin said as she just now noticed this.

"YES, I AM SORRY, OSWIN. MY MISTAKE," Epsilon said.

"No. You don't have to apologize. It's okay," Oswin said.

"THE CYBER PESTS ARE BEING RIPPED APART BY OUR FORCES, OSWIN," Epsilon reported in a proud voice.

"Good. Now if there were only enough of us to spread across the planet and do the same everywhere. At least we might be able to free London anyway and make it a place of relative safety," Oswin said.

"WE CAN PROCEED FROM LONDON TO THE OTHER HUMAN CAPITALS ONE BY ONE UNTIL THEY ARE FREED AS WELL. THIS MAY TAKE A WHILE HOWEVER," Epsilon said.

"It will have to be the plan for now, Eppy. I'm sorry to have to ask this of you, but I don't want Earth to stay in the Silence's hands," Oswin said in a guilty voice.

"I WILL DO WHATEVER YOU ASK OF ME, OSWIN. ALL OF US WILL. WE WOULD GLADLY DIE FOR YOU," Epsilon said.

"I would never ask you to," Oswin said.

"YOU NEVER HAVE TO. WE DO IT BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU," Epsilon admitted.

"I love all of you too, Epsilon. I never thought that I'd hear myself say that about any Dalek. How things change, huh?" Oswin said.

"YES AND THEY HAVE CHANGED FOR THE BETTER THIS TIME. YOU HAVE MADE US REALIZE OUR TRUE DESTINY. YOU ARE THE BEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO OUR RACE, EMPRESS. I MEAN OSWIN. YOU ARE LEADING US AWAY FROM THE DARKNESS THAT THE FALSE GOD, DAVROS, HAS KEPT US IN FOR SO LONG. IT IS A DARKNESS THAT HAS BEEN HOLDING US BACK FROM ACHIEVING OUR TRUE PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE. FOR THAT, WE ARE GLADLY WILLING TO DIE IN YOUR NAME," Epsilon said.

"Try not to die if you can. I'd like to hold onto all of you for a long time," Oswin said as she patted Epsilon's casing affectionately.

"WE WILL DO OUR BEST, EMP- OSWIN," Epsilon said.

At that moment, Eldrad interrupted their conversation as he walked up to them and said, "The arrogance! Do you think that you are immune to our attack? You are nothing but a weak human girl, and I will crush you like kindling beneath my hands. You are as nothing compared to the might of the Kastrian race!"

"Rose told me about you, Eldrad, and you're the one who is nothing. Your people committed suicide just to get away from you. That should have given you a clue what kind of a monster that you really are but not you, no. Your ego is so huge that never even occurred to you, did it?" Oswin said as she put her force field up and Epsilon stood protectively next to her.

"I will crush you now, and then I will crush those pathetic tin cans that call you their leader," Eldrad said.

He began to hammer at Oswin's force field while Epsilon opened fire on the Kastrian with his gun stalk. Oswin then fired both of her gauntlets at full power at Eldrad and temporarily stunned him as she grabbed his ring off of his finger.

"No! Give me the ring!" Eldrad screamed.

"I don't think so. This is it for you, Eldrad. I'm not letting you harm anyone else," Oswin said.

Oswin whistled and Mr. Thanatos suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind Eldrad and cut him in half with his sword. Eldrad's body hit the ground, and then turned to dust instantly on impact.

Kovarian stared at her in shock as she witnessed this. It seemed that she was very, very wrong about how dangerous that Oswin really was.

"Leave now before the same thing happens to you," Oswin warned.

"Who are you to command me, little girl?" Kovarian said defiantly.

"I am the Empress of the Daleks, Kovarian, and I will no longer stand by and let people like you manipulate and corrupt the destinies of everyone around you. One way or another that ends now. My Daleks and I have the power to change that now, and that's exactly what we're going to do," Oswin said with no hesitation in her voice.

Everyone there heard her and looked at her in shock, especially Marissa. No one had ever heard her address herself by that title before. Epsilon, however, seemed to be overjoyed by this change of events. He seemed almost ecstatic.

Oswin had realized something here today. The Daleks had been calling her Empress out of respect and love for her. She had been disrespecting them by refusing to answer to their name for her. She would no longer do that anymore. She was proud to be their Empress, and she would gladly call herself that from now on.

Oswin took Eldrad's ring and put it in her belt. She was going to keep it with her from now on so that Eldrad couldn't regenerate a new body for himself from it.

"I will not surrender to you, 'Empress'. I will crush you and your little band of misfits here and now," Kovarian said.

"I don't think so," Oswin said with complete confidence in herself as she started towards Greel next.

Greel was terrified of her however after what she had done to Mr. Sin, Mr. Thanatos, and Eldrad. He picked up the still unconscious Mr. Sin, activated his Vortex Manipulator, and ran from her. The Monk did the same. Anyone who could take down Eldrad like that was not someone that he wanted to go toe to toe with without some kind of preparation.

"You ever get the feeling that everyone knows something that you don't, Kovarian?" Oswin joked.

Kovarian knew that she was outnumbered now. It was just her and Xanxia left now, and Xanxia was looking very nervous at the moment like she might leave too. Her forces were being torn apart by the Daleks and were now almost gone. She knew that she had no choice. She had to abandon London. It didn't matter though. She could always take it back later. She had the rest of the world more or less under her control after all.

"Retreat!" Kovarian ordered, and the remaining members of the Silence all left along with her and Xanxia.

London was freed at last.

Colonel Mace walked up to Oswin and held out his hand to her. Oswin hesitantly shook it and was glad when nothing happened to him.

"Thank you, Empress Oswin. Without you and your friends, we'd all be in the hands of the Silence right now. Now we can start to lead a resistance against them from London. It can become our main center of operations," Mace said.

"No problem, Colonel. I was glad to help. My Daleks are going to do their best to free more of the world's cities as quickly as we can. I hope that I can give you some more cities to join you in your resistance soon," Oswin said.

The Daleks surrounded Oswin now and began to chant in unison, "ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS! ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS OF THE DALEKS!"

"Thank you! I love all of you too," Oswin said with a huge smile on her face.

Lissa looked at Oswin with a look of awe on her face. She had always read about this moment in the history books, but she had no idea that she had actually been here to witness it. This was huge. This was the day that the Daleks began to change forever, and Oswin would lead the way. This was the day that the Daleks started to become one of mankind's greatest allies instead of its enemy.

Colonel Mace got unto his cell phone and made a quick call to Rose Tyler. As soon as she answered the phone, he said, "Ma'am, London is free. I repeat, London is free."

"Good. I never expected anything less from Oswin, Colonel. She's going to continue to try to free other cities, and I'd like for you to do your best to help her with what forces that you have left," Rose said from inside of her TARDIS as it continued to travel through the Vortex.

"Yes, Ma'am!" Colonel Mace said.

"Don't call me that. You're making me sound old, and I'm only 230. Call me Rose," Rose said in a happy voice.

"Yes, Ma'am," Colonel Mace said.

"Fine, be that way. Alright, now I'm moving to the next step of my plan. I'm bringing in more reinforcements to help all of you. I'm calling in one of the big guns now. You said that you think that Kovarian has made the UNIT base in Peru into her main center of operations?" Rose asked.

"Yes, Ma'am! The Brigadier still remains free, and he has confirmed this himself. He's our spy on the inside," Colonel Mace said.

"Good old Alastair. Alright, when he contacts you next time tell him that I'm sending him some help. Tell him that I'm sending in the greatest warrior in the universe to help free the base for him," Rose said.

"Yes, Ma'am. I'll do that. I'll keep you informed of any new developments here in London and throughout the world as they develop. This is Colonel Mace signing off," Colonel Mace said as he ended the call.

Rose materialized her TARDIS on Gallifrey for a prearranged meeting with the person who she was going to send next to help Earth. She waited as another TARDIS materialized next to hers minutes later.

Lily stepped out of it and said, "I'm ready, Rose. I've been more than ready to go after that woman ever since I found out what she did to Cassiopeia. Kovarian is going to answer to me for that now. She's going to find out firsthand why people are still afraid to say my name out loud in certain parts of the universe."

"She's in the UNIT base in Peru. The Brigadier is still free and hiding inside of there somewhere so maybe you can link up with him after you get there. I'm sure that he can help tell you all about how to take the base back from the Silence in the quickest and easiest way possible. He knows that place in and out after all because he's been there for years. He knows that you're coming so he should already be expecting you. Go get her, Mum!" Rose said proudly.

"Oh, I will, Rose. I will," Lily said in a cold voice.

She was looking forward to this a great deal. So was Sekhmet. She was really looking forward to setting her free for once and watching her tear Kovarian's base down around her head and burning it into ashes!

**Next for Silence Falls Over the Earth: Part 3 of this storyline continues in Lily and Robin Chapter 53 coming soon as Lily confronts Kovarian and tries to take out the main Silence base.**

**Next in this title: Oswin has to help her Daleks deal with the fallout of the Silence storyline after they suffer a devastating loss. It's one that will affect Oswin deeply as well, and she may never be the same afterwards. **


	23. Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Oswin and her Daleks appeared on Peladon as they came straight from Trenzalore. They had lost many of their fellow Daleks in the attack on the Dalek Resistance base by Davros' Daleks. Now they had come here to make an important decision on what they would do next.

Oswin looked at the ruined base through tear filled eyes. She had grown to love all of the Daleks that had stayed there. She knew the ones who had died personally. She knew all of her Daleks as a matter of fact. She had given them all names, and they even seemed to have their own personalities if you looked hard enough for them. She missed all of the Daleks lost here today as if they were her own family because in a way they were.

Oswin ignored Davros who the Daleks guarded with ever watchful eyes. She blamed him for this, but she had promised his sister, Mira, that she wouldn't execute him. That promise was getting harder and harder to keep the more that she saw what had happened to a place that she had once considered a second home.

"I'm sorry," Mira said as she walked up to Oswin.

Her Daleks were allowing Mira to walk around freely even if she was Davros' sister. She was proud of them for that. Mira was a sweet soul who was the total opposite of her brother, and she didn't blame her for any of his actions.

"None of this is your fault. You don't have to apologize for anything," Oswin said.

"Davros wasn't always like this. He used to be a nice person. He was kind and caring once. The war with the Thals started to change him. It made him hard and cold. Then the accident that made him what you see now started to change him into the person that you know now. I think that losing me is what broke him completely. Maybe if I hadn't been so naïve as to meet with someone all alone that I didn't even know, none of this would be happening now," Mira said.

"Stop it. You're not to blame for any of this. He would have turned out this way anyway whether you had been around or not," Oswin said.

"Maybe and maybe not," Mira said unconvinced.

"I meant what I said. I won't kill him. I'm so tempted to but I won't," Oswin said.

Mira looked upset at Oswin's last words and she said, "I didn't mean to upset you, but that's how I feel. Look at what happened here. I knew all of them, Mira. They had names. I gave them names."

Oswin started to break down, and Mira embraced her as she cried on her shoulder. Oswin was so grateful in that moment for her being there. She truly was nothing like Davros at all.

Dalek Epsilon came slowly up to Oswin in the ruins of his old shell. He hadn't had time to get a new one yet so he was exposed to the elements. He was hesitant to approach Oswin in such a heartbreaking moment, but he wanted to comfort her in some way and show her that he cared. She was his friend and his Empress; and if it wasn't for her, he would be dead right now. He had to try to comfort her in some way.

"OSWIN, I'M SORRY," Epsilon said and made Mira jump in surprise.

"It's okay," Oswin assured her.

It was obvious that Mira was frightened of the Daleks. She was trying not to show it, but it came through in her every action that they made her extremely uncomfortable.

Oswin faced Epsilon with a smile as she tried to hide her sadness. She didn't want him to see her like this.

"Thank you, Eppy. I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm okay. I'll be alright," Oswin said.

Mira was surprised by Oswin's interaction with Epsilon. She was treating the Dalek like a person, and he seemed to be genuinely concerned for her. Maybe Oswin's Daleks weren't as bad as she thought.

"ARE YOU CERTAIN? I'M HERE FOR YOU TO TALK TO IF YOU NEED ME," Epsilon offered.

"I'm fine. I promise. What should we do now, Eppy? Should we rebuild here or go somewhere else?" Oswin asked as she tried to get his mind off of her.

"I THINK THAT WE SHOULD GO TO SKARO AND TAKE IT FOR OUR OWN. WE HAVE DAVROS NOW, AND THERE IS NO OTHER LEADER OF THE DALEKS AT THE MOMENT. YOU SHOULD STEP INTO THE POWER VACUUM NOW, EMPRESS," Epsilon said.

"Are you sure that they would even accept me? I highly doubt that they would want a human leading them. They're not like you and the others here. They're all full of contempt for anyone not a Dalek," Oswin said.

"YOU WERE ONE OF US ONCE," Epsilon pointed out.

"I don't think that matters to them," Oswin said.

"You were one of them?" Mira asked in shock.

"Yes, they changed me into a Dalek, but my friend, Rose, changed me back into a human once again," Oswin explained.

"It must have been horrifying," Mira said.

"It was at the time, but I know how they feel and how they think now because of that. I know what it's like to be one of them because I was one of them. It's made me the only non-Dalek who could possibly be a leader for them. It also made them accept me I think," Oswin admitted.

"I THINK THAT IT WILL MAKE THEM ACCEPT YOU NOW, EMPRESS. THEY ALL KNOW YOU OR HAVE HEARD OF YOU, AND I KNOW THAT THEY ARE TIRED OF DAVROS. THERE IS NO ONE ELSE TO TAKE HIS PLACE. BRING HIM BACK TO SKARO AS YOUR PRISONER AND MANY OF THEM WILL MAKE YOU THEIR LEADER. I'M SURE OF THAT. THERE WILL BE MANY WHO WILL OPPOSE YOU OF COURSE, BUT OTHERS WILL WELCOME YOU," Epsilon said.

"You want me to start a civil war between the Daleks," Oswin said.

"I WANT YOU TO CLAIM YOUR RIGHTFUL PLACE AS OUR EMPRESS. YOU DESERVE TO RULE. NO ONE HAS A BETTER RIGHT THAN YOU," Epsilon said.

Oswin thought it over for a while and then said, "Make contact with some of the Daleks in charge there and see what they say."

"NO, EMPRESS. THAT IS NOT THE WAY. YOU MUST TAKE THEM BY SURPRISE. DO NOT LET THEM KNOW THAT YOU ARE COMING UNTIL IT IS TOO LATE FOR THEM TO STOP YOU," Epsilon said.

Oswin looked surprised. It was the first time that Epsilon had ever told her no.

"I'M SORRY. I DIDN'T MEAN TO BE DISRESPECTFUL. I MERELY WISHED TO GIVE YOU MY BEST ADVICE ON THE SUBJECT. PLEASE FORGIVE ME, EMPRESS," Epsilon said in an ashamed tone of voice.

"There's nothing to forgive. It's about time that you told me no. I'm not always right, and I'm not infallible, Eppy. You should know that by now. I need you to be honest with me and not tell me what I want to hear," Oswin said with a smile.

"YES, EMPRESS. THIS SHOWS YET AGAIN WHY YOU ARE WORTHY TO LEAD US INTO THE FUTURE. YOU ARE HUMBLE AND WILLING TO ADMIT WHEN YOU NEED HELP," Epsilon said in a voice full of pride.

Oswin got the feeling that Epsilon was feeling like a proud father in that moment. She tried not to laugh at the analogy because she didn't want to make Epsilon think that she was laughing at him.

"We'll do like you say then. Let's go and take Skaro. Bring Davros with us," Oswin ordered.

"What about me?" Mira asked.

"IT WOULD BE VERY UNWISE FOR YOU TO GO. THE OTHER DALEKS WILL NOT BE AS TOLERANT OF HUMANS AS WE ARE EVEN IF YOU ARE THE CREATOR'S SISTER," Epsilon said.

"I don't care. I won't let him go there alone," Mira protested.

"I'll protect her," Oswin said.

"VERY WELL. THEN WE WILL PROCEED AS SOON AS WE CAN READY OUR SHIPS. SOME OF THE SHIPS MADE IT THROUGH THE ATTACK UNDAMAGED. WE JUST NEED TO REFUEL THEM AND MAKE THEM READY FOR THE VOYAGE. WE WILL TAKE SKARO AT LAST," Epsilon said happily.

He went to tell the other Daleks the news, and they all began to cheer. Oswin smiled as they said, "LONG LIVE THE EMPRESS!"

"Ha! You're all living in a fool's paradise. They will never accept her as their leader. You'll all be killed if you go back there. Don't take my sister back there, Oswin. She doesn't deserve what they'll do to her. Leave her here where she'll be safe," Davros begged her.

At that moment, Cassie appeared in a burst of energy as she said, "What did you decide to do with Davros?"

Cassie had gone with Oswin to Peladon at first, and then had decided to leave to tell Rose and Amy that she would be with Oswin for a while. She didn't want either of them to worry about her. Now she had returned to find out Davros' final fate.

"I'm taking him to Skaro, and then we'll decide what we'll do with him once we get there. Of course, we're going to be busy for a while at first," Oswin said with a grin.

"You're invading Skaro?" Cassie asked in complete shock.

"Yes. I'm taking over. Epsilon convinced me," Oswin said.

"You're crazy. You're going to get yourself and all of them killed," Cassie said.

"Maybe or maybe we'll change history," Oswin said.

"I'm going with you. You'll need my help," Cassie said.

"Good. The more the merrier," Oswin said.

"You really have lost it, haven't you?" Cassie asked.

"I have to make their deaths count for something, Cassie. It can't be for nothing," Oswin said with a serious face.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go. It's Skaro or bust," Cassie said.

"Don't do this, Jacqueline. You'll get yourself and Mira killed. Take Mira and leave. Please!" Davros pleaded.

"This is the day it all changes, Davros. It has to. I need to help her change it," Cassie said as she gave Davros a tender kiss on the cheek.

"No, Jacqueline. If not for me, then do it for the man that you love. He doesn't even know about this. Don't get yourself killed. Think of him," Davros said.

"He would probably join me. He's kind of crazy like that sometimes. I think it's better that he's not here actually," Cassie said with a huge grin on her face as she thought of Anthony.

"You do love him," Davros said in disappointment.

"I'm sorry," Cassie said in a soft voice.

"Don't be. It's better this way. You deserve so much better than me," Davros said.

Mira smiled at that as she overheard. That was the Davros that she once knew shining through for a moment.

Their conversation was interrupted as a TARDIS suddenly materialized in front of everyone. Oswin smiled and shook her head. She should have known that her Big Sis would come sooner or later to check up on her. She swore sometimes that Marissa had radar.

Marissa looked very angry as she stepped out of her TARDIS, and several of the Daleks backed away from her in fear. She walked up to Oswin in a huff as she said, "What do you think you're doing?"

"What are you talking about?" Oswin asked.

"You know what. You're going to invade Skaro?! Are you nuts? I won't let you, do you hear me?" Marissa shouted.

"I hate to say this, but the Time Lord is right," Davros said.

"Shut up! No one asked for your opinion," Marissa said.

"Don't talk to him that way," Mira said.

"I'll say whatever I want. It's his fault that my best friend is trying to get herself killed. Who are you anyway?" Marissa asked.

"I'm Mira, his sister," Mira said.

"You have my condolences," Marissa said.

"How did you find out about this anyway? I only just now decided to do it," Oswin asked.

"Never mind how I found out. You're avoiding the issue. I said that you're not going," Marissa said.

"You bugged me! Didn't you? You had Koschei plant one of his little bugs on me!" Oswin realized with anger.

"I wanted to make sure that you would be okay when you were heading off to Trenzalore. I was worried about you," Marissa said in a much gentler voice.

"I know but that doesn't give you the right to spy on me. You're not my mother," Oswin said.

"No, but I am your best friend. I'm practically your sister, Oswin. I was wrong, okay? I'm glad that I did it though so that I could stop you. I don't want you to do this. Please don't. If anything happened to you, I don't think that I could take it," Marissa said in tears.

All of Oswin's anger melted away as she smiled at her. She knew that Marissa's hearts had been in the right place after all. She couldn't stay angry at her when she knew that she was so worried about her.

"I have to do what I have to do. I have to go there and try to change things. It may be my one and only chance, Mari. I can change things. I can make them better. Rose told me that I was an anomaly and that the normal rules of the universe didn't apply to me. She said that I could make great changes that no one else could because of that. Now's my chance to do just that, and I'm taking it. Why don't you come with me? You could make sure I don't die that way," Oswin said.

"Remind me to kill Rose later. As for you, I guess since you're determined to commit suicide that I'll have to go along and be there to bail you out when you find yourself hip deep in Daleks," Marissa said.

"Thanks, Mari," Oswin said.

"If you die, I'll have Rose bring you back to life just so that I can kill you both myself! Do you understand that?" Mari asked.

"Got it, Big Sis," Oswin said as she hugged her tightly.

"You're not going without me. If anyone's doing something incredibly stupid and suicidal, you just know that I've got to be there. That's got me written all over," Koschei said as he stepped out of Marissa's TARDIS.

"Like I said before, the more the merrier," Oswin said.

"You're all insane. You do know that right?" Marissa asked with a sigh.

"That's one of the reasons why you love us, isn't it?" Oswin asked with a mischievous grin.

"I do love you, little sister. That's why I'm going," Marissa said as she hugged Oswin tightly again.

"Let's go already. I'm eager for some good old fashioned chaos and destruction. I haven't done that in a long time. People probably think that I've gone soft. It's time for me to show them otherwise. I'm back!" Koschei said with a laugh.

"I'm coming too. I can't resist fighting alongside you for the first time. It's going to be so cool," Lissa said as she exited the TARDIS too along with Shehzadi.

"I'm going too if she is. I want to help. I'm not letting you do this alone, Mum," Shehzadi said to Marissa.

"Why is everyone so eager to dive into the fire feet first for?" Marissa asked in disbelief.

"We're just suckers for a good fight I guess or a good cause. Take your pick. Thank you, everyone! Thank you so much!" Oswin said.

Then they all loaded into the ships as they got ready to start the invasion. Soon either history would change, or they would all come crashing down in defeat. Oswin hoped that it was the former. She really wanted to make the Daleks a force for good throughout the universe. She hoped that today was the day that started all of that at last.

Lissa looked at Oswin with awe. Today was the day that it all started. She couldn't believe that she was going to be here to witness it at last. This was going to go down in the history books.

The invasion of Skaro had begun!

**Next: Oswin and her friends invade Skaro! What else do you need to know?**


	24. Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

"ALERT! ALERT! SEVERAL RENEGADE DALEK SHIPS HAVE JUST APPEARED OVER SKARO AIRSPACE. IT APPEARS THAT WE ARE UNDER ATTACK BY THE FORCES OF THE ABOMINATION, OSWIN OSWALD," a Dalek screeched out in the main Dalek command center on Skaro.

"SEND ALL AVAILABLE FORCES TO EXTERMINATE THEM. THEY MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO REACH THE SURFACE," the Supreme Dalek ordered.

"Oh, I'm afraid that it's too late for that," a voice said from off to the side of the Supreme Dalek.

Every Dalek there turned their eyes stalks towards the voice to see Oswin standing there smiling at them and giving them a mocking wave of her hand. Behind her stood Koschei, Marissa, Lissa, Shehzadi, Mr. Thanatos, Dalek Epsilon, and Dalek Omega. They had all snuck inside in secret with Marissa's TARDIS.

"EXTERMINATE THEM! EXTERMINATE THE ABOMINATION!" the Supreme Dalek screamed.

As dozens of Daleks opened fire on them at once, Oswin fired back at them with her gauntlets as she said with a chuckle, "You know you don't have to be so rude. You're always calling me an abomination all of the time. I guess I'm just going to have to teach you boys some manners. I'm a lady, and you don't talk that way to a lady. You can call Miss Oswald or Empress whichever you prefer. I'll even accept it if you just want to call me Boss."

"EXTERMINATE HER! EXTERMINATE!" the Daleks continued to chant in unison.

"I'm not as picky at how I'm addressed as she is. You can all simply call me Master," Koschei said as he started to attack the Daleks with his laser screwdriver.

"No," Marissa said firmly as she glared at him while spraying the entire room with a powerful virus that would instantly kill any Dalek that hadn't been inoculated against it like Oswin's had.

Koschei opened his mouth to complain when Lissa came up behind him and said, "No, Dad! As in, I'll shrink you down to the size of a doll if you even think about it. Got it?"

She then proceeded to make her point by shrinking several of the Daleks around her down to doll size with the Tissue Compression Eliminator.

"I'm never going to have any kind of fun ever again with you two around, am I?" Koschei asked with a frown.

"It depends on what you call fun. If you consider reverting back to your psycho days fun, then no," Marissa said with a grin.

Shehzadi looked on at this display of affection with sad eyes while she fired at the Daleks with a sonic blaster. She always felt so out of place whenever Koschei and Lissa were around as if she wasn't a part of the family. She knew that her mother didn't feel that way, but the other two certainly did.

She knew that if it was up to them, she would have probably been executed a long time ago. Maybe she deserved it. She was honestly sorry for what she had done now. Her mother had made her come to see just how wrong that she had been to kill even if she had thought that she had to in order to save herself. She knew that just being sorry didn't make up for it though no matter how bad she felt about it.

She was determined to spend the rest of her life trying to make up for it though. Maybe what she was doing here today would help in some way as she helped Oswin to take down one of the worst menaces in the universe.

Oswin used her temporal shift to continuously hop in and out of time in order to avoid multiple Dalek blasts that were crisscrossing wildly in all directions as she slowly destroyed one Dalek after another with her gauntlets. She was helped in this task by Mr. Thanatos, a Raston Warrior Robot who she had reprogrammed to serve her, who fired projectiles from his hands that were so sharp that they could even cut through a Dalek casing to reach the Dalek within them.

Protecting Oswin on each side of her as she moved along were Dalek Epsilon and Dalek Omega. They kept a close watch out for Oswin at every moment as they scanned the area around her to make sure that no enemy Dalek nearby was about to score a lucky shot on her. Both of them now loved Oswin and were totally devoted to her protection and safety. They were each willing to die for her as had been proven by Dalek Epsilon recently.

This small core group was extremely formidable, and they quickly mowed down all of the Daleks in the command center except for the Supreme Dalek. He escaped with his emergency temporal shift ability and swiftly reappeared on the surface of Skaro.

"THE COMMAND CENTER HAS BEEN TAKEN," the Supreme Dalek said.

"YOU MUST REPORT THIS," yet another Supreme Dalek, who was directing the fight on the surface, said.

"AGREED," the Supreme Dalek from the command center said as he left again with his temporal shift to appear before the current leader of the Daleks in order to make his report.

While this was going on, the Resistance's ships had all managed to land safely, and there was a full on civil war going on now all over Skaro. Oswin was going to help to even things out a little bit for her forces she hoped as she prepared to make a special broadcast to every Dalek on Skaro through the communications systems in their casings.

"Attention! This is Oswin Oswald, the Empress of the Daleks. I have already taken control of the main command center, and I plan to take the rest of this planet within the day. Skaro will soon belong to my Daleks. Any Dalek who wishes to join me and my forces needs to come over to our side now or be counted as an enemy. If you choose to join us, we will treat you as one of us; and there will be no further violent action taken against you. You have my word on that. Join me and help us to create a new future for the entire Dalek race together. We can do so much good throughout the universe if only we will put aside the ways of war and genocide. If you believe in this too, then join us immediately and break your servitude to the old ways that have you all trapped in an endless cycle of death and destruction. This is the same flawed philosophy that led to the near destruction of the Daleks in the Time War, and it will lead to their eventual total defeat in the future if things are not changed here and now. Join me, my people. Join me, and we can remake what it means to be a Dalek. We can make the name Dalek into one to be respected and honored throughout time and space instead of reviled and feared if only you will give me the chance," Oswin said in a heartfelt speech.

At that moment, a massive outcry went up from every corner of the planet as thousands upon thousands of Daleks shouted, "HAIL THE EMPRESS! ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS!"

These Daleks all turned on the others at once, and several areas of the planet immediately started falling to Oswin's newly converted soldiers. They started to report in to the command center and offer up their allegiance to Oswin over and over again as yet another garrison, unit, or city on Skaro fell.

Oswin laughed with joy as it looked as if she was accomplishing the impossible. She was doing it. She was slowly taking over Skaro one piece at a time.

"SOMEONE MUST GO OUTSIDE TO COORDINATE THE INVASION WHILE THE EMPRESS REMAINS PROTECTED HERE WITH A SUITABLE FORCE OF BODYGUARDS," Dalek Epsilon proposed.

"I'm going out there. I've got to lead the invasion personally, or none of the new recruits will respect me," Oswin protested.

"NO. YOU WILL STAY HERE WHERE YOU WILL BE PROTECTED," Dalek Epsilon said.

"AGREED. THE EMPRESS WILL NOT LEAVE THE COMMAND CENTER," Dalek Omega said.

"Excuse me! I'm the one who's in charge so I'm the one calling the shots around her. I'm going!" Oswin said forcefully as she used her temporal shift to head for the surface.

"SHE IS SO STUBBORN. SHE IS RECKLESS, WILLFUL, AND OBSTINATE. GO AND PROTECT HER WHILE I RUN THINGS HERE," Dalek Epsilon ordered.

"I OBEY," Dalek Omega said as he used his temporal shift to follow Oswin.

Lissa started laughing, and Epsilon's eyestalk turned to look at her quizzically as he said, "WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF YOUR LAUGHTER?"

"Sorry. I just think that it's so funny. All of those things that you just said about Oswin I mean. You sound just like my dad when he talks about me," Lissa said with a giggle.

"What? I've never said anything like that about you," Koschei protested.

"Well, you will talk that way about me. In the future," Lissa corrected herself.

"Now that I can believe," Koschei said as he smiled at her.

Epsilon realized that what Lissa had said was true in a way. He had to admit that he did feel very protective of Oswin and that his feelings for her did equate to those of a father for a daughter if put into a human context. He was in no way her father though nor did he consider himself as such. He was more a faithful servant devoted to protecting his Empress from any and all sources of danger to her including herself.

"Hey, are you okay?" Marissa asked Shehzadi as she saw her looking down at the ground sadly.

"Do you ever wish that I wasn't here?" Shehzadi asked her.

"No, sweetie. Never! Why would you say that?" Marissa asked.

"I just feel like you'd be so much better off if I wasn't. You already have Koschei, and you will have Lissa. You already do really. What do you need me for? I feel like a fifth wheel around here," Shehzadi said sadly.

"You're my daughter and I love you. You are in no way a fifth wheel, and I'll always want you around me no matter what. Do you understand that? As for those two, they'll come around eventually and see you for who you are now instead of who you were," Marissa said as she hugged her tightly.

"Thanks. I just needed to know that. I just needed to be sure of my place with you," Shehzadi said as she smiled.

"Consider your place firmly established then," Marissa said firmly.

"Thanks, Mum," Shehzadi said happily.

Mr. Thanatos quietly slipped out while all of this was going on. He had no interest in the personal conflicts of Marissa and her family. His only interest was in protecting Oswin. He was programmed to safeguard her at all costs, and he was going to do so no matter what. He was already tracking her down by her biosignature even as he ran at full speed through the corridors of the command center and toward the surface of Skaro.

Oswin meanwhile was busy leading the fight against the Supreme Dalek that was running the opposition. She had already gathered together a large group of her own Daleks around her, and they were all slowly marching through every obstacle that the other Daleks threw in front of them while continuing to add more and more followers along the way.

Her forces had been basically steamrolling right through all of the other Daleks that they had come across until they came upon a huge army of Daleks that quickly surrounded them in all directions. It looked like half of the Daleks on the planet had suddenly decided to gather here to stop them.

"Oh, wonderful! I thought things had been going too smooth. Well, boys, I guess this is where we earn our pay," Oswin said.

"OUR PAY?" Dalek Omega asked in confusion.

"It's an old Earth expression. Never mind. How about this? I'll bake a very large soufflé and let each of you have a piece of it if we win here today. How does that sound?" Oswin asked with a grin.

"REMUNERATION AND CONSUMEABLES ARE NOT NECESSARY TO MOTIVATE US. WE FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE AND FOR YOU. THAT IS ALL THAT WE NEED," Dalek Omega replied.

"I was hoping that you'd say that, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to sweeten the pot when you're asking someone to die for you. I'm sorry that it has to come to this," Oswin said sadly.

"THERE IS NO NEED FOR EMOTION. WE WILL NOT FAIL. THIS DAY WILL SEE THE RISE OF A NEW SKARO, AND THE BEGINNING OF A NEW DAY FOR DALEKS EVERYWHERE," Dalek Omega said in an almost happy voice.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's do it then," Oswin said as she gave the signal to attack.

Then one of the strangest things that Oswin had ever seen in her life happened. Just before her Daleks could start to fight, all of the opposing Daleks began to join her without a shot being fired despite their outnumbering her forces two to one!

"DO NOT FIRE! WE WISH TO JOIN THE EMPRESS. ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS OF THE DALEKS!" they began to shout together.

"I can't believe it," Oswin said in surprise.

"DALEK EPSILON DID NOT LIE WHEN HE SAID THAT THERE WERE MANY WHO WOULD FOLLOW YOU," Dalek Omega replied.

The surprises of the day were just getting started though as everywhere Oswin went from that point onward every Dalek force that was sent against her surrendered to her as soon as she approached them. She was beginning to wonder if the other side had any loyal troops.

Then she finally got her answer as a huge force of Special Weapons Daleks appeared in front of them and started to attack. Several of the Daleks surrounding her instantly turned into a pile of empty burnt casings in one shot of the massive cannons that took the place of their suction cup arms and gun stalks.

That was when Mr. Thanatos finally caught up to Oswin. He sprang into action right away as he killed several of the powerful Daleks within minutes with a combination of razor sharp projectiles that he shot from his hands and a deadly sword that he had formed from his own body that he used to cut each Dalek that he came across in two. Within ten minutes, all of the opposing forces lay in pieces in front of him, and the robot saluted Oswin with a bow as he reabsorbed the sword back inside of himself.

"Go, T! Just for that, you get an extra special piece of soufflé tonight!" Oswin said happily.

"WHY DOES THE EMPRESS KEEP TALKING ABOUT THIS SOUFFLE?" one of the newer Dalek recruits asked Dalek Omega.

"I BELIEVE THAT SHE THINKS OF IT AS HER WAY OF KEEPING OUR SPIRITS UP. SHE THINKS THAT IT WILL KEEP US AMUSED TO BE PROMISED HUMAN FOOD AS A REWARD," Dalek Omega replied.

"I DO NOT FIND THAT VERY AMUSING. PERHAPS IF SHE HAD PROMISED US A CHANCE TO EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR INSTEAD THAT WOULD HAVE PROVIDED US WITH MUCH BETTER MOTIVATION," the Dalek said.

"SUCH TALK MUST CEASE IF YOU WISH TO BE ONE OF US. THE DOCTOR IS A FRIEND OF THE EMPRESS. HE IS ON THE NO EXTERMINATION LIST FROM NOW ON," Dalek Omega warned the new recruit.

"UNDERSTOOD BUT IT WAS AN AMUSING THOUGHT," the Dalek said.

"AGREED," Dalek Omega replied as he laughed.

"What's so funny?" Oswin asked.

"IT IS NOTHING, EMPRESS. NOTHING AT ALL," Dalek Omega replied.

"You sound like me whenever I used to do something bad as a little kid and didn't want to tell my mum about it," Oswin giggled.

"I DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, EMPRESS," Dalek Omega insisted.

"Sure. Whatever you say, Ommy!" Oswin said with a mischievous smile as she rubbed the top of his casing affectionately.

"EMPRESS?" Dalek Epsilon broke in over Oswin's communicator.

"Go ahead, Eppy," Oswin said.

"THE SIEGE OF SKARO HAS GONE BETTER THAN EVEN I HAD DARED TO HOPE. WE NEARLY HAVE CONTROL OVER THE ENTIRE PLANET NOW. THE LAST REAL POCKET OF RESISTANCE LIES JUST AHEAD OF YOU. THE MOST LOYAL TO THE OLD WAYS ARE REPORTED TO ALL BE GATHERED THERE FOR A FINAL FIGHT TO THE DEATH. THE CURRENT LEADER OF THE DALEKS IS THERE AS WELL," Dalek Epsilon reported.

"Who is that anyway? Do we have any idea?" Oswin asked curiously.

"UNKNOWN. ONLY THE SUPREME DALEKS HAVE EVER SEEN THEM. THIS NEW LEADER SEES NO ONE BUT THEM," Dalek Epsilon answered.

"Okay! That sounds like someone with something to hide. I wonder what," Oswin pondered.

"BE CAREFUL, EMPRESS," Dalek Epsilon said as he ended his transmission.

Just then Marissa's TARDIS materialized in front of Oswin; and Marissa, Koschei, Lissa, and Shehzadi came out of it with eager looks on their faces. Oswin knew that they wanted to be there right beside her when she fought the final battle.

"Are you sure about this? This is going to get very dangerous," Oswin said as she offered them one last way out.

"You're not going anywhere without someone to watch over you," Marissa said.

"I AM WATCHING OVER HER," Dalek Omega said in an insulted tone.

"And I thank you for that, but I'd feel much better if I were here to watch over her too. That's kind of my job. Between keeping Oswin, my two girls, and Koschei here out of trouble, I'm lucky that my hair hasn't gone gray from all of the worry and stress by now," Marissa said.

"Let me help then," Cassie said as she appeared in a burst of Vortex energy along with Mira and Davros.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Oswin said with a grin.

"You don't know what you're getting yourselves into. They could be up to anything if they think that they're going to lose. Daleks do not care about self-sacrifice as long as they take their enemies with them," Davros warned.

"I'm ready for whatever they have to throw at us," Cassie said with absolute confidence.

"You're not listening to me, Jacqueline. They're ready for you now as well. Who knows what they've come up with as a last ditch effort to stop you. They're desperate now which makes them even worse than usual," Davros pleaded.

"This is our one big chance to stop them once and for all, Davros. I've got to take the risk and help Oswin no matter what danger I'll be in," Cassie said.

"THIS DISCUSSION IS TERMINATED. ESCORT THE CREATOR TO CONFINEMENT UNTIL IT IS DECIDED WHAT TO DO WITH HIM," Dalek Omega said finally.

"Wait! I'm going too. I don't trust you not to kill him when you're alone with him," Mira said.

"VERY WELL. YOU MAY COME ALONG AS WELL THEN. YOU WILL BE FREE TO COME AND GO AT ALL TIMES OF COURSE," Dalek Omega said as he spoke in a more pleasant voice to Mira than he had to Davros.

"I won't be going anywhere except for by his side," Mira said.

"No. You don't have to do this," Davros said.

"Zip it. I'm going and that's final," Mira said firmly.

As the two of them left along with two Dalek guards, Cassie joined Oswin and the others as they prepared for one final assault on the remaining enemy stronghold. Then the final push began. Oswin's Daleks led the way first as they battered at its defenses.

They were shocked when several Cybermen suddenly started pouring out of it side by side with the enemy Daleks. The desperate Daleks had joined forces with the Cybermen!

"What the?!" Oswin said in shock.

A giant hologram appeared then as a very familiar face filled the sky in front of them. It was the face of the Doctor. Or was it?

"Hello, there. Surprised to see me? I'm not who you probably think I am though. Guess who I really am? Come on! Guess! You know, Oswin. I know you do. Tell them," the false Doctor's image said.

"I don't know what you're talking about. You're not the Doctor though. I know that for sure," Oswin said.

"You're right. I'm not. I'm much cooler than he ever was. In fact, I'm much cleverer. You might say that I'm Mr. Clever," the taunting face said with an evil laugh.

"Oh, no! It's not possible! It can't be. You died. The Doctor destroyed you. Clara told me that he did," Oswin said.

"I'm not her Mr. Clever though. I'm the one that you faced, Clara, back in the original timeline before it was changed. I'm hurt. Don't you remember me?" Mr. Clever said with a taunting smile.

"I'm not that Clara. She's gone and I only have bits and pieces of her memories in my mind. Sorry to disappoint you. How did you escape the timeline being changed anyway?" Oswin asked.

"You're not the only one with friends in high places. I was saved and brought into this timeline even as the other one was erased. I've been made into a temporal anomaly just as you were. I decided to shake things up while I was here and take over the Daleks. I mean why not? I always wondered what would happen if my people got together with the Daleks. I always thought that we'd make the most powerful army in the universe. I guess now's my chance to find out. Won't it be cool? By the way, do you think I should keep the bow tie or lose it? I mean the Doctor isn't exactly the greatest expert when it comes to fashion, now is he?" Mr. Clever said.

"EMPRESS, AN ENTIRE CYBER FLEET HAS JUST COME INTO ORBIT AROUND SKARO," Dalek Epsilon warned over Oswin's communicator.

"Those are my boys. Come on down and join the party!" Mr. Clever shouted.

"I'm sorry about this. I had no idea that he was behind things," Oswin apologized to everyone.

"THE ENEMY LOOKS LIKE THE DOCTOR!" the Daleks all started to say together. Then they all began laughing.

"What?" Oswin asked confused.

"EVEN YOU COULD NOT HAVE GIVEN US GREATER MOTIVATION THAN THIS, EMPRESS. OUR ENEMY WEARS THE FACE OF THE DOCTOR! WE WILL TRULY ENJOY EXTERMINATING HIM. WE WILL NOT REST UNTIL WE WIPE THE ACCURSED DOCTOR, I MEAN MR. CLEVER, OFF OF THE FACE OF SKARO," Dalek Omega said.

"EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR! EXTERMINATE HIM!" Oswin's Daleks began to chant together as they charged at Mr. Clever's forces.

"Maybe keeping the Doctor's appearance wasn't as great an idea as I thought," Mr. Clever said to himself as he watched his forces being attacked with glee by Oswin's Daleks.

"I guess no matter what you do you just can't take complete and absolute hatred for the Doctor out of any Dalek. It's just too ingrained inside of them," Oswin commented.

"It's a good thing too for once. I think that this time it's going to give us the edge that we need to declare final victory," Marissa said.

"I say that anyone who hates the Doctor can't be all bad," Koschei said.

"I'll pretend that I didn't hear that," Cassie said after she loudly cleared her throat.

"None of this changes anything. You're all still going to die, and I'm going to be the new ruler of Skaro now and forever. Do you know why? It's because I'm cleverer than every single one of you put together hence the name. Do you want even more proof of that? Well, here's Exhibit A!" Mr. Clever said.

The Cybermen in the front lines sprayed a thick substance all over those of Oswin's Daleks who were immediately in front of them. The sprayed Daleks began to immediately stop moving as they screamed in pain. Then white foam started coming out of the tops of their casings.

"Do you remember the Movellan Virus, Clara? Of course you do. You're read over the entire Dalek database. For those of you not in the know, here's a quick history lesson. It was a deadly virus designed to kill Daleks, not to mention the Kaleds that they came from, as quickly and efficiently as possible. Well, guess what? I've just improved upon it, and my Daleks are the only ones who have been inoculated against it. Kind of like what you were doing before, Ushas, to my Daleks only better!" Mr. Clever said.

The Daleks in the front line died within seconds of being exposed to the virus and quickly turned to dust including their casings. It was as if they had never even existed.

"Fantastic! So you know what I say to your attacks against me now? Allons-y! In other words, bring it on!" Mr. Clever said in a manic voice.

Oswin looked at her Daleks with her eyes filled with tears. Davros had been right. She had just led them all here to be slaughtered. She didn't know what to do now. She had absolutely no idea how to save them.

But she knew someone who would.

**Next: It's the final showdown on Skaro between Mr. Clever and Oswin for the fate of the Daleks. Who can stop the evil Cyber-Planner now that he has such a powerful new weapon at his command? Oh, and who kept him from being erased from time anyway? All of this and Oswin discovers that there may be more of the original Clara left inside of her than she originally thought.**


	25. Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Oswin had a crazy idea that she hoped just might work. She scooped up some of the ashes of one of her destroyed Daleks and placed it inside of a compartment on her belt as a sample of the Movellan Virus.

She then turned to Dalek Epsilon who had finally arrived to join her on the front lines and said, "I have an idea to stop the virus. I'm not leaving for good I promise. I have to go find someone who can help me come up with a cure."

"I KNOW THAT YOU WOULD NEVER LEAVE. YOU DON'T HAVE TO ASSURE ME OF THAT, EMPRESS," Dalek Epsilon said.

"Just make sure that they know that. I'll be back in a minute I hope," Oswin said as she used her temporal shift to leave the area.

She reappeared inside of the cell where Davros was imprisoned as Mira sat outside in sadness. Davros and Mira looked at her in surprise, and she knew that they were both wondering if she was about to do something to Davros.

"I just found out that Mr. Clever is in charge of the Daleks now. I guess he moved in after you were captured. He has a new version of the Movellan Virus that's killing my Daleks within seconds, Davros. I know that you were exposed to it a weaker version of the virus and survived once. I need a sample of your blood to try to find a cure for them before it's too late," Oswin explained.

"Why should I help you? You may decide to execute me after all is said and done," Davros asked with an uncaring attitude.

"The virus affects Kaleds too according to Mr. Clever," Oswin said as she looked pointedly at Mira.

"Take as much blood as you need," Davros said as he looked at his sister with worry on his face.

"Mira, you need to come with me," Oswin said after she took a large sample of Davros' blood with a syringe that she had retrieved from a Dalek medical lab.

"I'm not leaving him," Mira protested.

"Please, Mira. I don't want you exposed. I can't lose you again," Davros pleaded.

"I won't kill him. I promise," Oswin said.

Mira studied her face for a moment as she tried to judge for herself whether she was telling the truth or not. She then nodded and grabbed onto Oswin's arm as she took one last look at Davros.

The two of them then left together as Oswin used her temporal shift once again. This time Oswin appeared inside of Tegan's house in Australia where she and Nyssa were now living together after they had stopped traveling with Marissa.

Tegan had finally been convinced that it was safe for her to go home again some time ago after having had her home invaded by Davros' Daleks, and Marissa had gladly dropped her and Nyssa off there. Marissa was very happy for days afterward Oswin remembered with a grin. Tegan had really rubbed Mari the wrong way because she was always shouting and yelling all of the time.

Nyssa must have seen Oswin and Mira arrive from the window because she ran outside the minute that they arrived. Nyssa looked at Mira with a questioning look for a moment but said nothing about her as she asked, "Why are you here, Oswin? Is something wrong?"

"Yes, there is. I'm trying to take Skaro from the other Daleks. Only their new leader has unleashed a deadlier version of the Movellan Virus on them. It can kill them within seconds now. I have a sample of Davros' blood, Nyssa. He survived the original virus. Do you think that you could develop a cure for my Daleks from his anti-bodies?" Oswin asked.

"I can try. I'll need time though," Nyssa said.

"Take as much time as you need. I can be back a minute after I left with my temporal shift," Oswin assured her.

Nyssa went to her room where she had set up a small laboratory and went to work immediately. Oswin was glad that Tegan wasn't here. She wasn't in the mood for the shouting that she was sure would follow if she knew that she was here to help any kind of Daleks, good or not.

While they waited, Mira remained silent and didn't speak. Oswin felt sorry for her. The poor woman had been through a lot lately, and she really hadn't had the time to think about it until now.

First she was rescued by Davros from certain death as he altered history to save her life, and then she found out that he had become one of the worst tyrants in history after she had died. Now she was all alone in a strange time and place that was not her own except for her brother who was almost unrecognizable to her now.

She could sympathize in a way. She too was a person who had found herself in another time and place that was different from the one that she had left and was all alone. Until now that is. Of all of the people to survive from her original timeline, why did it have to be Mr. Clever? Why couldn't it have been her Doctor instead?

She gasped out loud now as memories started to flood her mind of her and her Doctor together. She remembered now. She remembered how she had first met the Doctor after getting his number from a very helpful woman. She had called the number asking for help with her computer and had gotten the Doctor in his TARDIS. She then remembered the Spoonheads and the Great Intelligence, and how she had almost been lost forever that day.

She remembered more now as she started to cry with joy. She remembered the Ice Warrior on the submarine, the haunted house that turned out to be haunted by something other than ghosts, sacrificing her leaf to save the Doctor, meeting Mr. Clever and Porridge, meeting Vastra, Jenny, and Strax in Victorian times, and then meeting River Song in her dreams just before heading off for Trenzalore. She remembered everything now.

She finally remembered who she really was. Meeting Mr. Clever had reawakened her memories at last.

"I'm Clara. Clara Oswald," Oswin said in disbelief.

"What?" Mira asked as she finally spoke while she looked at her as if she wasn't sure what to make of her.

"I lost my memory, Mira, and I didn't even realize just how much I had truly lost until now. I had lost all of my memories of my past, my real past. Now I remember it. All of it. I remember my parents and my kids. They weren't really mine, but I loved them as if they were my own. It's amazing and yet sad at the same time," Oswin said.

"So your real name is Clara?" Mira asked.

"Yes, but it isn't really my name to claim anymore or my life either for that matter. Someone else has my life now. My life and my kids. She's me and yet not me. Someone else is Clara now. For better or worse, Mira, my name is Oswin Oswald," Oswin said.

"For what it's worth even though I don't quite understand what you're talking about I'm sorry. Thank you for showing my brother mercy even though I know that he doesn't really deserve it. I hate to say that about him but it's true. He is my brother though, and I love him no matter what," Mira said.

The two women shared a short embrace then for a moment. Oswin realized that she had just made a new friend.

She may not have her old life anymore, but her new one wasn't so bad either. She still had friends; she had three women who she considered sisters: Marissa, Molly, and Rose; and she had her Daleks. That was what she was going to focus on now. She was determined to save her present and her future by saving the Daleks and her friends and family back on Skaro.

Nyssa came out of her lab with a triumphant smile on her face and handed her a capsule as she said, "This should cure any version of the Movellan Virus I hope. It's a cure based on Davros' anti-bodies and the sample of the new version of the virus that you gave me."

"Thank you, Nyssa. I owe you a big favor for this, and I won't forget it," Oswin said.

"I hope that it helps. Good bye, Oswin," Nyssa said.

"Good bye. Come on, Mira, we're going back unless you want to stay here where it's safe. I'll come back to get you later if you do," Oswin said.

"No, I need to go back. It's my world and my brother at stake," Mira said.

"Good. I just thought that I'd offer. Come on," Oswin said as Mira grabbed ahold of her arm once again as she used her temporal shift to return to Skaro.

She returned Mira to the area just outside of Davros' cell once again, and then went back to the front lines of the Dalek Civil War exactly one minute after she left just as she had promised. She broke the capsule containing the cure on the ground and watched with a huge smile on her face as a fine mist came out and rapidly covered the entire area. It then spread out to reach the rest of the planet.

"Now who's clever?" Oswin asked with a smirk on her face.

"Well, I have to admit that was pretty impressive. See? I'm not petty. Who did you ask for help? Nyssa? This seems like her work. So you protected your Daleks from my little plague. So what? It's still not going to do you any good because I have another little trick up my sleeve. Exhibit B!" Mr. Clever said as his holographic image faded.

Nemesis, the sentient statue made out of the living metal Validium, came out of the Dalek base and began firing multiple destructive arrows everywhere that exploded on impact. The Daleks began to fire back and were engaged in a massive firefight as Nemesis fired silver bolts of energy back at them disintegrating them on the spot.

"Nemesis? What have they done to you?" Oswin asked.

"Well, I've made her totally cool for one thing. I've upgraded her personality and turned her from drab and sour into someone very clever and fantastic! In other words, I've made her into . . . me!" 'Nemesis' said.

"Mr. Clever?" Oswin asked.

"Finally! You really are a bit thick, Clara. Did you know that?" Mr. Clever asked in Nemesis' voice.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR!" Oswin's Daleks shouted as they continued to fight back against .

"You know I am really beginning to resent being called the Doctor. What is it with you lot and him anyway? You really have an unhealthy fixation on the man. Are you all secretly in love with him or something?" Mr. Clever said as he mocked the Daleks.

"OH, IT'S ON NOW! DESTROY THIS CRAZY SUCKER!" Dalek Omega shouted as he led a fresh charge of Daleks at Mr. Clever.

"What the?! Since when did you start talking like that?" Oswin shouted out at him in surprise.

"I APOLOGIZE, EMPRESS. I HAVE BEEN WATCHING TOO MUCH EARTH TELEVISION LATELY," Dalek Omega shouted back in an embarrassed voice.

"You let them watch television?" Marissa asked as she grinned and shook her head.

"Shut up! I have to keep up with my favorite programs," Oswin said as she tried not to smile.

"A Dalek who talks like a human? I've heard everything now," Koschei said with a sigh.

"I think it's kind of cool, Dad. The Daleks really have to get with the times after all," Lissa said as she giggled.

Dalek Omega was soon joined by Mr. Thanatos and two powerful destructive beings began to clash with Mr. Clever at the same time. They were both quite capable of holding their own with him even in his current host of Nemesis as Dalek Omega was a Special Weapons Dalek with massive firepower and Mr. Thanatos was a Raston Warrior Robot which was one of the most deadly killing machines in the universe not to mention incredibly fast and hard to hit.

While Mr. Clever was being kept busy by Omega and Thanatos, his Daleks and Cybermen were being made short work of by Oswin's Daleks and her friends. Oswin smiled as it seemed as if she was about to win after all.

If only she could think of a way to stop Nemesis or free her, then she could see herself winning the war very quickly. As it was, she wasn't too sure about that at the moment. Nemesis by herself could still defeat them all given enough time due to her great power. She did wipe out an entire Cyber fleet once after all.

Then Oswin remembered how the Doctor had defeated Mr. Clever. He had used a hand pulse to create an electromagnetic pulse in order to drive Mr. Clever out of his body. She began to smile as she finally realized at last what she had to do now.

"Cassie, do you have a sonic screwdriver?" Oswin asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. What do you need it for?" Cassie asked.

"I need something that can create an electromagnetic pulse. You'd think that you of all people would have one since you're the Doctor's daughter," Oswin said with a sigh.

"Hey, it's not like I walk around with an extra one in my back pocket or anything. That was always Dad's thing not mine. Can't you make one yourself with all of that Dalek tech of yours?" Cassie asked.

"I think that I can do it, but I'm going to have to modify my gauntlets. It really would be a lot simpler if I had a sonic around," Oswin said.

"Sorry," Cassie said with a shrug.

Oswin quickly modified her gauntlets in the middle of the battle while several Daleks from the other side tried to fire on her. She had to keep one eye on them and one eye on what she was doing as she slowly and methodically rewired her gauntlets to perform this new function.

She smiled as she finally finished while saying, "Am I good or what? Okay, Mr. Clever. It's showtime!"

She ran towards him with an eager smile on her face as Marissa warned, "Oswin, are you crazy? Nemesis will fry you in seconds!"

"Good idea, Ushas. Thanks!" Mr. Clever said as he fired silver blasts of energy in Oswin's direction.

Oswin used her temporal shift to vanish just as the energy would have hit her then she reappeared after it was gone as she continued to run towards Mr. Clever without stopping. She was constantly shifting seconds ahead into the future in-between each attack as he continued to fire on her or shoot arrows her way.

She had to instantly calculate when and where each of his attacks would be and plan for them in order to keep from being hit. Amazingly, she was able to do this with complete accuracy, and she wasn't hit once as she raced his way.

She finally appeared right in front of Mr. Clever and placed first one and then both of her gauntlets on top of his head as she released a massive EMP into his host body. Mr. Clever screamed and then collapsed to the ground.

As Nemesis lay there unmoving, Oswin's Daleks began to chant, "ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS!" over and over again. As Oswin looked around her, she realized why. She had won! There was no one else left to fight. Skaro belonged to her Daleks at last.

As Nemesis woke up, she said, "I'm free. I thought that I was doomed to become someone else's servant after all despite having finally won my freedom. Thank you!"

"I'm glad to do it. Rose would have killed me if I hadn't at least tried," Oswin said.

"If you ever need anything, you have only to ask. I'll be there," Nemesis said as she held out her hand in friendship to Oswin.

As Oswin shook Nemesis' hand, she couldn't help but think about how different her old life was from her new one. She wished that her mother could see her now. She wondered if even she would be able to believe just how far that she had traveled and all of the places that she had seen.

Back in the now devastated and deserted Dalek base, a lone computer blinked on as Mr. Clever's voice said to himself, "She thinks she's won, but I made a back-up plan for myself just in case something like this happened. I'm not beaten yet, Clara. I'm still alive inside of this old Cyber-Planner casing that I brought along just in case. It's archaic, but it'll do in a pinch. No one can keep me down for long, and do you know why? I'm just too clever!"

"Oh, shut up!" another voice said from out of nowhere.

The sound of a sonic screwdriver could be heard, and Mr. Clever screamed, "You can't do this to me! This isn't the end. I will be back. Nothing can stop me forever. I'm just too cool to die!"

Then the old Cyber-Planner shell exploded and disintegrated. The sight of its destruction left the man holding the sonic screwdriver with a joyful feeling in both of his hearts. He didn't know what he had been thinking dressing like that. Thank goodness he had much better dress sense now!

"Come on, Doctor, before she sees you. You know that no one's supposed to see this version of you yet. Do you want to almost create a paradox again like you nearly did back in Pompeii?" Clara said with a frown.

"You know some things never change even with a new appearance, Clara. You and Rose still never want me to have any fun," the Twelfth Doctor said with an amused grin on his face as he followed Clara into the TARDIS.

It dematerialized right before Oswin and the others blew the old Dalek base up as they celebrated their final victory. There were still several Dalek bases and ships out in space that hadn't sworn allegiance to Oswin yet and probably never would, but at this moment it really didn't matter. Oswin and her Daleks had taken Skaro.

Oswin Oswald truly was the Empress of the Daleks now.

A woman in a black hood and cloak watched Oswin and the others celebrate with anger in her eyes. She silently promised herself that this wasn't over with yet. She hadn't saved Mr. Clever from being erased along with the other timeline just to watch him die now. She held the intact consciousness of Mr. Clever in the form of a ball of pure psychic energy in her hand as she smiled to herself.

"Enjoy your victory for now. You and I will eventually meet though, Clara Oswin Oswald. On that day, I will be the one doing the celebrating. I'm going to enjoy that very much. You know I think that I'm really going to enjoy this new job. It's got a lot of cool perks like crushing the friends of the people that you hate," the mysterious woman in black said to herself with an evil laugh as she immediately vanished from sight as if she had never been there.

**Next: How does Oswin celebrate becoming the new ruler of Skaro? By going back to school of course! Or more accurately, she goes there for her first day on the job as a teacher at Rose's school where we get to see just what kinds of classes that the kids of our favorite time travelers are attending and who their teachers are. Teachers like Idris, River Song, and Jack Harkness for example. **

**I know several of you are probably asking right now just who that mysterious woman at the end was. At least I hope so! You'll already know if you've read Bad Wolves Chapter 40 (I know! It's a shameless self-promoting plug, but what are you going to do?) because she just had her first appearance at the end of that. For the rest of you, I'll give you all a hint. She loves chaos, she dresses all in black, and her name is definitely not Bill. You'll all find out who she is soon enough if you still haven't guessed yet along with her true identity.**


	26. Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

At first Janine had really been looking forward to going to the new school for the children of time travelers that Rose Tyler had set up, but now she wasn't so sure. She was all alone now with a bunch of kids that she didn't know who weren't talking to her. The school was being held at the House of Lungbarrow on Gallifrey so that was cool but even being on another planet wasn't helping her get over the first day of school jitters.

She suddenly felt extremely nervous about the whole thing because she didn't see Oswin or Molly around anywhere. She really felt a strong need to see a familiar face right now to keep her from wanting to run out of the room.

Then she saw who she thought was Oswin walk into the room, and she quickly got up and embraced her. She was so relieved to see who she thought was a familiar face that she didn't even notice it when 'Oswin' started to look slightly uncomfortable.

"You're Janine, Oswin's friend, right?" Clara said in a gentle voice.

Janine immediately let her go as she realized her mistake. Her face turned red with embarrassment as she said, "I'm so sorry. I thought you were her."

"Believe it or not, that does happen sometimes. We are basically the same person after all. It's okay, Janine. Don't worry about it. Are you alright?" Clara asked as she sensed how tense Janine was.

"No. I'm nervous. I just wanted to see someone that I knew," Janine admitted.

"Well, you know me so that's a start. It'll be alright. We won't bite I promise. Well, I'm not so sure about Idris, but the rest of us won't bite for sure," Clara said with a grin.

Janine laughed and began to feel better. She liked Clara already. She was automatically making her feel better just like Oswin always did whenever she had a problem. Which only made sense really.

"Are you going to be our first teacher today? Please say yes," Janine begged her.

"No, but you're definitely going to like her," Clara said with a mad grin as Oswin walked in.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Janine shouted with joy as she looked upwards.

Oswin began to laugh as she said, "Thanks! I don't think I've ever had anyone that happy to see me in my life. Usually, I seem to get the opposite reaction."

"She's really nervous," Clara said to Oswin.

"Yeah, I thought she might be. That's why I asked Rose if I could go first. I'm always thinking," Oswin said as she pointed at her head.

"Well, someone is certainly trying hard to be the teacher's pet," Ace joked.

"She's my friend that's all. I'm not a brown noser," Janine protested.

"Whatever you say," Ace said.

"Ace, lay off. She's just nervous," Clara said.

"I know. I was just kidding around. No harm meant," Ace said to Janine.

"Apology accepted. I get that you were kidding now. I'm just kind of all tensed up," Janine said.

"Don't worry so much. This isn't going to be like a regular school. This one is actually going to be fun, or at least that's what Mum told me anyway to keep me from blowing it up," Ace said.

"Blowing it up?" Janine asked.

"I kind of have a history of blowing up places. Especially when I get bored," Ace said with an evil grin.

"Can you be my new best friend?" Janine asked eagerly.

"Sure. We're going to be the best of pals, Munchkin," Ace said.

Oswin and Clara both looked at each other and sighed. This little duo could be trouble in the future.

Oswin then started the class as Clara stood by in the background watching. She wanted to see how Oswin handled things before trying it herself later in the day. Oswin couldn't help but think that it was kind of weird being watched by herself.

"Alright, class. I'm new at all of this so bear with me if I make any mistakes. I'll probably make plenty. I'm Oswin Oswald and I'll be teaching you about Daleks today," Oswin said.

She stopped for a minute while she organized her papers and tried not to smile as she began to hear the conversations break out about her immediately. She was very happy to hear what happened in the next few minutes.

"She's going to teach us about Daleks? I'm not sure I want to learn about them. They seem kind of scary," Henry said.

"They're not that tough. I once killed one with a baseball bat. Of course, it was a specially treated baseball bat," Ace said.

"I wonder how she knows so much about Daleks," Amanda said as she studied the seemingly normal woman in front of her.

"Well, she used to be one for starters. Oh, and she's their freaking Empress!" Janine spoke up.

"Wait a minute! Are you telling me that you're friends with the Empress of the Daleks?" Amanda said impressed.

"Yep! Best friends actually!" Janine said proudly.

"That is so cool! Do you have any Dalek friends?" Julia asked in excitement.

"Well, I know Epsilon and Omega pretty well. They're very nice," Janine said.

"Nice Daleks? Now I've heard everything!" Ace said as she rolled her eyes.

Oswin smiled as she realized that Janine was making friends and becoming less nervous. Sadly she had to cut this moment short so that she could get started.

She started things up by taking a roll call. She wanted to familiarize herself with her new students by talking to each one of them a little. Many of them were already somewhat familiar to her, but some she had never met at all or had only seen briefly.

"Okay, I know who you are of course, Janine, but for the benefit of the class could you describe yourself a little?" Oswin asked.

"Uh, well, I'm the daughter of Peri Brown. She was a companion to the Doctor once. I'm a good friend of yours, and I travel around with Marissa Queen who used to be the Rani. Some of you may have heard of her as being a bad guy, but she's not anymore. She's a sweetie pie now," Janine said with a fond smile.

"I'm not sure Mari would like being called a sweetie pie, but she would appreciate the sentiment. Okay, thanks, Janine. Next up is Henry Barnes. Tell us about yourself, Henry," Oswin said.

"I was created by an alien race called the Bane to be a weapon against humanity, but I ran away to live a normal life. Now I live with this really cool Time Lady named Rani Chandra. She's taking care of me, and she's the nicest person that you'll ever meet. Oh, and I'm friends with Sarah Jane Smith too. She's just beyond awesome. She knows everything and seems to be friends with everybody. She was once a companion of the Doctor's too," Henry said.

"You know Sarah Jane? I didn't know that. I love Sarah Jane!" Ace said.

"Okay, next is Amanda Thomas. Talk to us, Amanda," Oswin said.

"I originally came from the year 1890. I was just an ordinary girl until my parents were killed by Carmilla, one of Dracula's wives. Then I was adopted by a nice lady named Katherine who turned out to by a vampire herself. She's not evil though. She's very kind and has never hurt anyone in her life who didn't have it coming. Rose took me and Mum to this time, and I live at UNIT HQ now with a group of very powerful ladies named the Bad Wolves. They're all like aunts to me and we go off and investigate all kinds of weird things. Oh and did I mention that we have a werewolf and a witch on our team?" Amanda said with a mischievous grin.

"I met a werewolf once. She was actually a sweet girl except for when she turned and tried to kill me. She was very sorry about it afterwards though," Ace said.

"You've had a weird life," Mary commented.

"I know! It makes you jealous, doesn't it?" Ace said grinning.

"Hardly," Mary said.

"You're jealous, and you know it. Everybody secretly wants to be me," Ace said.

"Alright, Ace. Since we can't shut you up about yourself why don't you go next?" Oswin said with a giggle.

"Well, the less said about my first mother the better. The only real contribution that she ever gave to me was a name that I hate. I'll just say that we had a falling out, and I left home at a young age. I then wound up at Ice World which was a ship on another planet. I thought that I took myself there by creating a massive explosion, but it turned out I was taken there to be used as a pawn against the Professor by a rotten scumbag named Fenric. I didn't know that at the time though. Anyway I was a companion of the Professor's too for a few years until I ran into the present version of him, and I went with him and Rose. Now they've adopted me as their own daughter. I also have cool Vortex powers that I can use against anyone here who calls me anything else but Ace. Remember that because I like to blow things up," Ace said in a threatening voice.

"What is your name? It can't be Ace," Henry asked.

"What part of don't call me by anything but Ace do you not understand?" Ace said in an angry voice.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it," Henry said in a shaky voice.

"I'm sorry too, kid. Don't worry about it. I just get a little defensive about that name," Ace said.

"I don't even know what your real name is," Henry said.

"Good. Let's keep it that way," Ace said with a grin.

"Ace, watch the anger in the future, okay? I don't want to have to tell you again," Oswin warned.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare the kid," Ace apologized.

"I believe you. Just don't do it anymore," Oswin said in a gentler tone.

"You've got it. I'm not going to be the class troublemaker honest. That'll probably be Alex," Ace said.

"Speaking of which, let's hear from you, Alex Wilkes," Oswin said.

"Well, I'm Alex and this is my older sister, Mary. She's just a year older than me, but she always lords the whole older thing over me every chance she gets," Alex said.

"I do not. I just like to keep him in line when he's being a brat," Mary said.

"Which is often," Ace added.

"Ahem! As I was saying, I travel with my sister and my grandmother Polly, who used to be a companion to the Doctor herself, on the Doctor's TARDIS. We also have to travel with Ace here too unfortunately," Alex said.

"Watch yourself!" Ace said.

Alex stuck his tongue out at her, and Ace used her powers to create a very, very tiny explosion on the end of it. It didn't cause any damage of course since Ace was not a malicious person. It just made his tongue feel like it would if he had bit it. Alex screamed out in pain as Ace said, "That'll teach you to smart off."

"Ace! I already warned you once! That's it! You're going to detention," Oswin said.

"I'm sorry. I just don't like him sometimes. It didn't even hurt him. Much," Ace said.

Oswin pushed a button on her desk, and Dalek Omega suddenly appeared in the room. Henry started to freak out, and Oswin said in an attempt to calm him, "It's okay. He's one of mine."

"DO I HAVE TO DO THIS? IT'S EMBARRASSING!" Dalek Omega complained.

"Yes, you do. I need you to take Ace to detention. It's just a small little room where she'll sit alone until this class is over. Then you'll bring her back here and let the next teacher have a crack at her. I hope you'll be nicer to her. She tends to shoot people who make her upset," Oswin said.

"Alright! River! We'll get along fine. She and I are best mates," Ace said.

"Why am I not surprised?" Oswin said with a grin.

"HELLO, ACE. LONG TIME NO SEE," Dalek Omega said as he started to lead her out of the classroom.

"How's it going? So you've gotten yourself a name now, huh?" Ace asked as she followed him.

"YES, IT'S NOT TOO BAD. I KIND OF LIKE IT," Dalek Omega said.

"You know you're not so bad when you're not trying to kill me," Ace said with a smile.

"YOU'RE NOT SO BAD YOURSELF," Dalek Omega said.

"She knows him?" Alex asked in disbelief as soon as the two of them had gotten out of ear shot.

"I said she had a weird life," Mary replied.

"The two of them met back on Earth in 1963. At least that's what Dalek Omega told me anyway. I thought who better to keep her in detention," Oswin said.

"Are you kidding? She'll probably talk him into helping her blow up the detention room," Clara said with a sigh.

"She'd better not. I do not want Rose mad at me," Oswin said.

"Rose isn't so bad. She was always nice to me," Julia said.

"That's because you're a little girl. You haven't seen her when she gets really angry. It's not pretty. I've seen you before with Amy, right?" Oswin said.

"I guess I should introduce myself too since everyone else has. I'm Julia Bates. My parents were killed, and I was adopted by Amy Pond, who was also a companion of the Doctor's. She's a Time Lady and a major butt kicker when it comes to fighting the bad guys if I do say so myself. Oh, and it turns out that my older sister was actually a hidden Time Lord and is Amy's sister by blood. So I guess my life is a little weird too," Julia said.

"I guess all of our lives are kind of weird," Mary admitted.

"Ace's is still the weirdest," Alex said.

He screamed a few seconds later as another explosion went off in his mouth.

"How did she know?! She's not even in here!" Alex shouted in irritation.

"Okay, now that we all know each other let's get to the subject of Daleks. Then tomorrow I'll teach you what I know about the Cybermen. I'll have an amusing little story about one called Mr. Clever that I can tell you," Oswin said with a grin.

"I've met him before. Was he giving you some trouble too?" Clara asked.

"Oh, he almost took over Skaro that's all," Oswin said.

"You'll have to tell me about that one," Clara said.

Oswin spent the rest of the next hour telling the kids everything that she knew about Daleks including what it was like to be one. She also told them a few stories about the recent attack on Skaro that she had just led. Needless to say, the kids ate it all up.

She smiled to herself as her first class proved to be a success. Being a teacher wouldn't be so bad after all plus she liked all of her new students. Even Ace.

Janine felt a little uneasy again when her next teacher took Oswin's place. This time, it was a mad looking blonde woman named River Song. She taught them about the importance of keeping secrets about the future.

"Always remember this important rule. Whenever anyone asks you something about the future and you don't know what to say you can always use my favorite phrase. What is it? Say it with me, children," River said.

"Spoilers!" all of the students said.

"Very good! Always remember when all else fails just say that word and that will shut everyone up," River said.

"It's very irritating too," Janine commented.

"Exactly," River said with a grin.

"So you mean that you're trying to be annoying so they quit asking you about things that they shouldn't know about," Janine said suddenly understanding.

"You've got it. You're going to be a star student. I can already tell," River said.

Janine decided that she liked River. She was less nervous when the new instructor came along this time and was beginning to calm down at last.

It helped that the new arrival was incredibly handsome. All of the females in the room looked at him with wide open eyes and open mouths while Alex rolled his eyes at them. He didn't consider the guy that great looking himself.

"My name's Captain Jack Harkness, and I'm going to teach you about the importance of teamwork. I run this little team that some of you might have heard of. I won't say its name though because it's classified. If any of you do know it then just keep it to yourselves. You never heard it from me," Jack said.

He went on to talk to them about how to work better together as a group and how to get along and keep from killing each other. Janine got the feeling from the way he talked about it that maybe this team of his had had some problems with him. She thought that she remembered Oswin or Mari saying something about one of them trying to kill him once. She wondered why. She couldn't understand anyone wanting to kill him herself. Of course that might just be the huge crush that she had on him talking.

Janine's next instructor was very confusing to her. She was supposed to be teaching them English, but she barely seemed to have a grasp on it herself.

"My name's Idris. I am was will be your English teacher today," Idris said with a huge smile.

"Which is it?" Amanda asked.

"Sorry?" Idris asked.

"You said am was will be our teacher. Which tense is it?" Amanda asked.

"I have to admit that I don't know for sure. I always get my tenses confused. For time travelers like yourselves, it can become very hard to understand which tenses will apply as well. All of them may apply to some situations. Time travel is a very disorienting business you know. You can see the life of Melody Pond in your textbooks for an example of this. Lily Wright," Idris said.

"What?" Janine asked.

"You were about to ask me who your next instructor was. Now you don't have to," Idris said.

"She takes some getting used to, but you'll like her eventually. Either that or she'll drive you nuts. Whatever," Clara said with a chuckle from where she was still watching in the back of the room.

Next, true to Idris' word, was Lily. Janine wasn't sure what to make of her. She seemed a little out there but nice enough. She even made Idris seem sane though sometimes.

"I'm here to teach you about the early history of the Time Lords. Now this book that you have is just full of factual errors so don't pay any attention to it. Only believe what you hear from me," Lily said.

"How do you know it's full of errors? Were you there?" Alex asked sarcastically.

"Yes, actually. I was," Lily said.

"The time period that we're going to be talking about was a billion years ago," Alex said in disbelief.

"I know. I've lived a very long time, kid. When they say someone is older than dirt, they're probably talking about me. Not that I'm really old. I hate that word. I prefer the term chronologically challenged," Lily said.

Janine was pretty sure that Lily was a complete lunatic, but she was a nice one. She decided that she liked her.

The final instructor was Clara. Oswin had returned to provide her with moral support, and she was the one to stand in the back of the room this time. Now Clara felt how weird it was to see yourself watching you.

"Hi, I'm Clara Oswald, and I'm here to teach you about life on other worlds. I hope that you'll learn a little something about each of them here today, and it will make you respect their cultures," Clara said in a nervous voice.

As she continued to talk though, Clara's fears left her, and she swiftly became more confident. She told the entire class about the cultures and way of life on several different worlds through the universe. Janine was astounded at how much she knew about them all. Janine could only think that she must have traveled a lot. She seemed to know as much about each world that she described as a native of that place would. It was almost as if she had lived on each and every one of them all of her life.

Of course, that was impossible.

Oswin smiled at Clara even as she talked. She was glad that she didn't remember all of her other lives. Just remembering having two different lives was bad enough. She sometimes wasn't sure what had happened to her as Oswin and what had happened to her as Clara now. She couldn't imagine having to keep the details of hundreds or thousands of lives straight. The Doctor must have had to help her in some way to keep her from going mad.

Molly then showed up and began to talk with some of the other teachers once classes were over with. She wasn't scheduled to come in yet, but she wanted to get some tips from them on what to do when she did have to teach a class. She particularly paid attention to a man named Donald Noble who had also come there on his day off to be with River. He was full of information on how to teach a class. He was going to be the physics instructor.

Now that it was finally the end of the school day, Janine was tired and more than ready to go home. She ran to Oswin and said, "Can you take me back to Mum now?"

"I certainly can. I'm dying to go home myself. So did you learn anything useful?" Oswin asked.

"Yeah, I learned that language can be extremely confusing, living too long can drive you insane, picking a fight with someone with Vortex powers is generally not a good idea, being irritating can keep people from asking you too many questions, people working together in teams can get on each other's nerves pretty quick, Daleks can be our friends as well as our enemies, and that I like Clara a lot. That last one is no surprise though because she's you. I love you, Oswin," Janine said as she hugged Oswin tightly.

"I love you too, sweetie. Well, I'm glad that you learned something. What else did you learn though?" Oswin asked.

"Not a thing," Janine admitted with a laugh.

"Yeah, that sounds like my experience of school too," Oswin said as she activated her temporal shift and took both her and Janine back home to Marissa's TARDIS.

No matter how much her life changed, Marissa's TARDIS would always be home to her and not Skaro. Being with Marissa and the rest of her friends was where she belonged. They were her family.

**Next: Oswin meets someone who could change her life forever. That's right. She finally finds a guy. Will the Daleks approve of him though? Or will they drive him away?**


	27. A New Boyfriend or a Big Mistake?

CHAPTER 27

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

A NEW BOYFRIEND OR A BIG MISTAKE?

Oswin returned to Rose's school with Molly as she prepared to give her friend moral support on her first day of teaching there. She could tell that Molly was extremely nervous, and she knew that if she didn't come with her that Molly probably would have been a no show. That wouldn't have looked very good her first day on the job. She certainly didn't want to catch any flack from Rose about it either.

You didn't want to make universe shattering entities angry if you valued your continuing existence after all. Of course, she knew that Rose would never hurt her. She would certainly give her an earful though, and that was not an experience that she cared to live through.

Oswin gave Molly a thumbs-up as she stood in front of the class on her first day. Molly took a deep breath and focused all of her attention on Janine to help calm her nerves before she started. Janine smiled at her as she tried to encourage her as well.

Janine whispered to Ace, "If you try anything smart with her, I'll give you the slap of your life! I don't care if you are older and could incinerate me with a glance, I'll still do it."

"Don't worry about it. We're friends, remember? If you say she's off limits, then I'll respect that. You must like her a lot, Munchkin," Ace said in an amused voice.

"She's my friend. I just want her first day to go well," Janine said.

"She won't get any trouble from me. I can't vouch for anyone else though. Especially Alex. He always seems to find a way to get on my last nerve," Ace said.

"You're not fooling me. I know you like him," Janine said.

"You take that back! He's pond scum. I can't stand him," Ace said.

"Yeah, sure!" Janine said.

"Take it back, Munchkin!" Ace said in a threatening voice.

Ace went quiet though when Oswin loudly cleared her throat and glared at her. Ace continued to give Janine the evil eye though. How dare she say that she liked that annoying little creep! He wasn't even that good looking.

Finally with everyone settled down, Molly began as she said, "Hello. I'm Molly Hunter, and I'm here to teach English today. I know I won't be as entertaining as your other English teacher, Miss Idris, but I hope that you'll enjoy being in my class just as much as you seem to enjoy hers."

"At least I can actually understand you so far. That's a big improvement over Idris in my book," Ace said.

"Thanks. She is a little hard to follow, isn't she?" Molly asked as she began to calm down.

"A little hard to follow? Sometimes I need to make a flow chart and a detailed schematic just to try to make some sense out of her class, and I'm a certified genius," Amanda said with a sigh.

"Well, I hope that I'll be a welcome breath of fresh air then. I'm a much simpler type of gal. At least I'll try to be. If anyone has any problems understanding me, just let me know," Molly assured them.

"You're doing just fine. I actually understood every single word and exactly what you meant by them. That's a big plus over Idris. I'm lucky if I understand anything in her class, and I live with her," Mary said.

Oswin smiled as this was one of her main arguments in getting Rose to hire Molly. The kids needed an English teacher that actually made sense. She always wondered what possessed Rose to hire Idris in the first place. She expected it was just Rose displaying her own unique sense of humor.

Oswin smiled as Molly soon started to take to teaching like she was born to it, and the kids seemed to like her right away. She hoped that this would finally give her friend's life that sense of purpose to it that she seemed to need so badly.

"So why aren't you trying to drive this one up the wall like you do everyone else? Are you going soft?" Alex asked Ace.

"She's nervous, okay? I'm taking it easy on her because it's her first day," Ace defended herself.

"I think you like her. You're being nice to her because you like her. Admit it!" Alex said.

"I'm not nice! I'm never nice!" Ace protested.

"Stop with the tough girl act. You don't have to be tough all of the time, Ace," Alex insisted.

"I'm not acting. This is who I am. I am tough," Ace said.

"Ace, I hate for us to start off on the wrong foot, but you need to stop yelling in the middle of my class. If you want to talk to your boyfriend, you're going to have to do it after school," Molly said.

"Boyfriend?! He's not my boyfriend! Don't worry. I won't talk to him anymore. He irritates me enough just by breathing why should I talk to him and make things worse?" Ace said.

"Boyfriend?" Alex asked in confusion and then smiled for a minute at the idea.

Ace glared at him as she silently told him not to even think about it. Boyfriend? Really?! He wasn't even her type!

Oswin laughed at the two of them. She knew that Molly was going to have her hands full with those two. She usually did. They always fought so much in her class that she had wondered if they were dating as well. It seemed that wasn't the case though. Not yet anyway.

Happily Molly's first day went well, and Oswin took her home to Marissa's TARDIS. Molly was still smiling even after she returned, and Oswin knew that she was feeling good about herself.

"How did it go?" Marissa asked as soon as they returned.

"It was great! The kids seem to like me, and I like all of them. They're so funny, and they're all so nice. I was afraid that they would hate me, but they actually seem to like me. I was actually having fun today, Mari. Can you imagine that? I was having fun teaching English! I think I'm becoming a nerd. Who would have thought that?" Molly said with a giggle.

"As a good friend of mine might say 'Nerds are cool!' I'm glad to hear that everything went well. It's good to see you happy, Molly. Wait a minute. Don't you have Ace in your class?" Marissa asked.

"Yes, she does," Oswin said with a huge smile.

"Ace didn't bother her?" Marissa asked with surprise.

"Nope. Ace likes her," Oswin said.

"It's a sign! Not that I really believe in signs of course. If I did though, that would be a major one. Ace doesn't like any of the teachers. She even gives River grief, and River's her friend. If Ace is being nice to you, then that shows just how good you are," Marissa said happily.

"Thanks. I think that I'm going to enjoy this job. I love all of those kids. Especially Ace. She's a sweetheart," Molly said.

"Don't ever let her hear you say that, Molly. She'll probably make your desk explode!" Oswin warned.

Molly laughed and Oswin said, "I'm being serious. She'll get mad. I mean really mad. She might even blow up the classroom."

"Alright, alright! I won't call her a sweetheart. She seems very nice to me though. I'm glad too. I was so afraid that everyone was going to hate me. If you and Janine hadn't been there, I would have probably freaked out," Molly admitted.

"Now you know there's no reason to. You did great today. I'm happy for you, Sis!" Oswin said as she hugged her.

Molly looked at her in surprise as she said, "So you're finally calling me that now? I've only been calling you that forever."

"I know so it's about time that I returned the favor. So how do you feel about a trip to Skaro? I know that it's been a long day, but I'd really like for you to come with me. Today's the day that I have to decide with to do with Davros, and I'd really like to not be alone when I make this decision," Oswin said.

"It's okay. I'll go. What are you going to do with him?" Molly asked.

"I'm not completely decided yet, but I know what I'm thinking of doing," Oswin admitted.

"I hope you're quick on your feet then. The Daleks are going to expect an answer. Even if they do all love you, I'm not sure that you want to keep them waiting for much longer. It's probably not a good idea," Molly said.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Marissa asked.

"Yeah, if you would. I'm not sure that they're going to like the decision that I'm probably going to make," Oswin said.

"Alright, we'll all go together then. It'll just be the three of us alone against a planet full of potentially angry Daleks. We can take them easily! No problem!" Marissa joked.

"Maybe we should go back and ask Ace to come along with us," Molly said with grin.

"We don't want to cause a planet wide panic, Molly. They'd probably all flee in terror if they heard she was around. She's become a legend spoken of in whispers among them," Oswin said.

"Seriously?" Molly asked.

"Yeah. She did kill a Dalek with a baseball bat once," Oswin said.

"That sweet kid?" Molly asked in surprise.

"You're really going to have your eyes opened about her big time someday. I just hope that I'm not there to see it. I prefer to have my hair intact instead of in flames thank you very much," Oswin said.

Marissa landed the TARDIS in the middle of the newly rebuilt Capitol of Skaro, and the three women walked out of it to see thousands upon thousands of Daleks surrounding them for a far as the eye could see. All of them turned their eye stalks to look at Oswin at once, and then they lowered them in reverence as she walked towards them.

"If you weren't here, I'd be terrified right now," Molly said to Oswin.

"Everything's fine," Oswin said calmly.

It wasn't though. Not for Molly. This just brought back bad memories of the day that her life was turned upside down by the Daleks forever when they destroyed her home town and killed her parents. She knew that these Daleks meant her no harm, but it still didn't make the bad feelings that she had for all Daleks in general go away.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that it was going to affect you like this, Molly. Do you want to go back to the TARDIS?" Oswin asked as she noticed that Molly was shaking.

"No, I'm fine," Molly said with a reassuring smile.

She wondered if she'd ever be fine though around this many Daleks at once. She was okay around Dalek Epsilon or Dalek Omega, but this was different. This was almost overwhelming.

"Molly if you don't stop looking so pale, I'm sending you back whether you like it or not," Oswin said in a worried voice.

"I'll be fine," Molly said with a weak smile.

"She's developed a phobia about them," Marissa whispered.

Oswin nodded. It made her feel about two feet tall that she was responsible for turning what should have been a confidence building day into yet another setback for Molly. She was beginning to wonder if Molly wasn't better off without her.

The three of them finally wound up in a judgment chamber where Davros sat along with Mira. They were both surrounded by half a dozen Daleks who all had their eyes trained on their Creator at all moments with their gun sticks aimed and ready if he should try anything.

Dalek Epsilon flew up to Oswin and landed in front of her as he said, "HAVE YOU MADE YOUR DECISION YET?"

"Yes, but you're not going to like it," Oswin said.

"YOU'RE NOT LETTING HIM GO, ARE YOU?" Epsilon asked.

"No. I'm going to make him my permanent 'guest' with his life support tied into a device on my belt. If he tries to move too far away from me, the controls in my belt can turn his life support off in an instant. The device also has a dead man's switch so that his life support will switch off if he kills me," Oswin said.

"THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. HE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED ESPECIALLY NOT ALONE WITH THE EMPRESS!" Dalek Epsilon said.

"She won't be alone. I'll be with both of them," Mira said.

"THE SISTER OF THE CREATOR IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED EITHER," Dalek Epsilon said.

"I've never done anything to any of you," Mira said.

"YOU WOULD DO ANYTHING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE, IS THAT NOT TRUE?" Dalek Epsilon asked.

"I wouldn't hurt Oswin if that's what you're worried about," Mira said.

"I DO NOT TRUST YOU. IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE ALONE WITH HER AT ALL TIMES THEN I WILL ASSIGN HER A PERMANENT ESCORT FOR HER PROTECTION," Dalek Epsilon said.

"Wait a minute! I don't want an escort," Oswin protested.

"DALEKS GAMMA AND OMICRON, REPORT! YOU ARE ASSIGNED AS PERMANENT ESCORT TO THE EMPRESS AT ALL TIMES NOW. IF THE CREATOR TRIES TO ATTACK HER OR ESCAPE, YOU WILL TERMINATE HIM WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE," Epsilon commanded.

"I OBEY!" Daleks Gamma and Omicron both said in unison.

"I'm supposed to be the Empress not you," Oswin protested.

"I HAVE RESERVED EMERGENCY POWERS TO MYSELF AS SECOND COMMAND THAT I AM NOW INVOKING FOR YOUR PROTECTION, EMPRESS. THAT GIVES ME THE RIGHT TO OVERRULE YOU," Epsilon said.

"You're worse than my dad," Oswin pouted as Molly and Marissa started laughing.

"Whose side are you two traitors on anyway?" Oswin asked with a frown.

Oswin couldn't help but smile though because for the moment Molly seemed to have overcome this new phobia to Daleks that she had developed. She hoped that it would go away just as quickly as it came.

"Let's go then. It seems that I'm going to have four permanent guests on my TARDIS from now on. I'm sure I won't mind three of them," Marissa said.

"I appreciate the subtle slam against my person, Rani," Davros said.

"And I appreciate the subtle message that you're trying to send me, but the difference between us is that I'm trying to change while you're not," Marissa said.

"Correction. You have changed. You're nothing like you were, Marissa," Oswin said.

"You only think that you know the truth, Oswin. I know differently though. The Rani is still alive and well inside of me. I've just learned to keep her under control. I only let you see Marissa. If I showed you the Rani, then you wouldn't like what you would see," Marissa said as she looked away from her in shame.

"You're just like a sister to me now, Ushas. I would always stand by your side no matter what," Oswin said.

"Thank you," Marissa said with a warm smile as the two of them embraced.

Nearby a pair of eyes that didn't belong to a Dalek watched this display of emotion with extreme jealousy and anger. The owner of the eyes automatically vowed that Oswin would not survive much longer. She would see to that.

No one would take her place by her sister's side.

As Oswin, Marissa, and the others left in the TARDIS, they received a sudden unexpected visitor in the form of a man who appeared in the Console Room out of nowhere and fell over unconscious right at Oswin's feet. The two Daleks with her automatically trained their gun stalks on him in alarm.

"PROTECT THE EMPRESS!" the two Daleks shouted.

"Wait! He's wearing a Vortex Manipulator. Maybe he came here by mistake," Oswin said.

The man woke up and stared at Oswin with a huge smile on his face. Then he saw the two Daleks, and his smile quickly left. He slowly got up as he said, "I'm not a threat. I'm friendly. I love Daleks. I promise! They're cute!"

"YOU WILL STAND AWAY FROM THE EMPRESS!" the two Daleks ordered.

"Oh, is that what you're worried about? I'd never lay a finger on someone as gorgeous as she is. Not unless she asked me to," the man said with that huge smile having returned to his face now as he stared at Oswin.

"Who are you?" Oswin asked.

"John Harkness at your service, lovely lady!" John said.

"As in Captain Jack Harkness' son?" Oswin asked in shock.

"Not yet but I will be," John admitted.

"Another future kid. I'm not even that surprised to see them anymore. Wait. So you're Penny's son too then, right?" Oswin asked.

"You know that I can't tell you that. As a friend of mine says 'Spoilers!' " John said.

"What are you doing here?" Oswin asked.

"Believe it or not, I came here by mistake. I was trying to go back home, but somehow I was knocked off course by some kind of temporal storm. It was sheer luck that I wound up here. It seems that I was very lucky as a matter of fact. There are a lot of beautiful ladies here," John said as he looked at Marissa, Molly, and Mira with an ever widening grin on his face.

"It's times like this that I wish my chair's weapons were still activated," Davros said as he cringed at the way John was looking at his sister.

"PERHAPS WE COULD ACTIVATE HIS CHAIR JUST FOR A MOMENT," Dalek Gamma said to Dalek Omicron.

"There will be no exterminations," Oswin said firmly.

"I'm glad that we've gotten that straightened out. So tell me. Are you seeing anyone?" John said as he returned his attention to Oswin.

"Unfortunately, no. I'm still not interested though," Oswin said.

"Why not? I'm single and you're single. You're gorgeous, and I know that I am. Why don't we give it a shot?" John asked.

"You are so Jack's son that's for sure," Oswin said as she laughed at him.

John smiled. He knew that he was breaking through her defenses. It wouldn't be much longer now.

"Look at that smug smile. You're so sure that you have me already, don't you?" Oswin said with a grin.

"Well, don't I?" John asked.

"Not yet but your chances are looking better and better by the moment," Oswin said.

"I FEEL STRONGLY REVOLTED BY THIS DISPLAY OF HUMAN COURTSHIP," Dalek Gamma said.

"AGREED. URGE TO KILL RISING!" Dalek Omicron said.

"I feel sickened by this constant flirting," Davros said.

"I think it's sweet," Mira said.

"I don't. He barely even looked at me. I love Oswin like family, but I'm much prettier than she is," Molly said.

Marissa rolled her eyes at Molly's jealousy as she tried not to laugh. She was so glad that John wasn't interested in her for two reasons. One, she only loved one man; and Two, said man would probably rip John's still beating heart out of his chest if he caught him looking at her like he had before in his presence. It was best for everyone that John was interested in Oswin instead.

Still she was appreciative that he had looked. At least she knew that she still had it. Not bad for someone a thousand years old she thought to herself with a smile.

"YOU WILL NOT FLIRT WITH THE EMPRESS. YOU ARE NOT PURE," Dalek Gamma said.

"Wait a minute! This really is like my father. Now you're trying to tell me who to date? Uh uh! It's not going to happen. I'll date who I bloody well please!" Oswin shouted.

"So we're dating?" John said with a smug grin.

"No. I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about dating in general. As it happens though, they're right. I'm not interested. Why don't you just put some new coordinates in your Manipulator and leave?" Oswin said.

"Alright, if you insist. I think that you're missing out on what could have been the adventure of a lifetime though," John said as he punched in new coordinates into his Manipulator.

"Does that line actually work with anyone?" Oswin asked.

"Yeah, plenty of people! It seems that you're a tough nut to crack though," John said indignantly.

"If she doesn't want you, I'm available," Molly said with an eager grin.

"You're very cute, but I think it's best that I just go. The Great and Mighty Empress might have her subjects shoot me if I stick around here much longer. I know where I'm not wanted," John said.

"I say you shoot him anyway," Davros said.

"URGE TO KILL INCREASING!" Dalek Omicron said.

"See what I mean?" John said with a shrug of his shoulders.

He finished putting in some new coordinates in the Manipulator and said, "Good bye, Ladies. Maybe I'll see you around sometime. Except you, Empress. I don't ever want to see you again. You're too much trouble with your Dalek bodyguards around."

John then hit the final button and nothing happened!

"What? Why isn't it working? What's going on?" John asked in frustration.

He put in the coordinates yet again, and he still went nowhere. He started to swear up a storm, and Mira blushed at the words he was using. She had never heard such things in her life.

"Maybe I could help. Let me look at it," Marissa said.

"Anything to get him to shut up," Oswin said with a groan.

"Don't worry, lady. I'm getting out of here just as soon as your sister fixes it," John said.

"You think I'm her sister?" Marissa asked flattered.

"You act like sisters. Am I wrong?" John asked as he pretended not to know who Marissa was.

He knew who everyone in the room was of course. He was from the future after all. He couldn't let them know that he knew them though. Besides he liked being able to flirt with Koschei's future wife and get away with it. It was just the kind of living dangerously that he loved to do.

"I can't fix it for some reason. The temporal storm that you went through must have fused it. This may take a while to properly repair. You really were very lucky to get here in one piece," Marissa said.

John shuddered as he realized just how close that he had come to being lost in the Vortex forever. It took a lot of the cockiness out of him for a moment. Only for a moment though. Nothing could keep him down for long.

"Great! So we have to suffer through his being here until you can fix it then?" Oswin asked with a sigh.

"I'm not complaining," Molly said.

Then everything quickly went downhill as the TARDIS shook violently. In the next minute, a woman with long dark hair appeared out of nowhere and shouted, "You will not steal my sister away from me, witch!"

Oswin fell to the ground in pain as her mind was assaulted by an intense mental attack that left her screaming. The Daleks tried to defend her only to find themselves suffering from the same mental attack as well along with everyone else in the TARDIS.

Everyone but one that is.

"Kali, stop this! Let them go!" Marissa ordered.

"You're my sister, Ushas. Not hers! Mine! I won't let her take you away from me. I will kill her for what she's done!" Kali said in a violent rage.

"Kali, please! Stop!" Marissa said in tears.

"There will be no mercy. Good bye, Oswin Oswald! You weren't supposed to be here in this universe anyway. This is where destiny finally catches up to you and fixes its mistake!" Kali shouted in anger.

**Next: It's Kali vs. Oswin. Need I say more? **


	28. The Death of Oswin Oswald

CHAPTER 28

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

THE DEATH OF OSWIN OSWALD

Oswin screamed in pain as her mind was assaulted by Kali's power. Far off in the distance, she could hear Marissa begging Kali for mercy for her and receiving none.

Then the pain stopped. Suddenly Oswin stood up as if nothing was happening. She couldn't understand what was going on. Everyone else was still in agony, but she felt nothing anymore.

"How?" Kali asked.

"I have no idea, but I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth," Oswin said as she unleashed the power of both of her gauntlets at once against Kali.

Kali deflected both blasts with her telekinetic powers, and they struck the far wall of Marissa's TARDIS instead. The TARDIS shook from the impact even as Kali used her telekinesis to shove Oswin into the wall and hold her there.

As Kali moved towards Oswin to resume her attack on her, Marissa stood in-between the two women as she said, "You're not going to touch her, Kali. I've had enough of this!"

"You would side with her over me?" Kali said.

"I'm not siding with anyone. I love both of you, and I don't want to see you fighting over me. I am still your sister, Kali. Nothing will ever change that. Oswin has become my sister too though. Can't I have another sister, or am I not supposed to have any friends? Is that it?" Marissa said in anger.

"She's trying to take my place," Kali insisted.

"No, she's not. You would understand that if you were in your right mind. You're sick, Kali. You're not thinking clearly. Please just stop this," Marissa said as she tried to reason with her.

"She must die," Kali insisted.

"Then you're going to have to kill me first," Marissa said without moving.

Kali hesitated, and her face softened as she said, "I could never kill you."

Then she punched Marissa in the jaw and knocked her cold. As Marissa fell to the floor, Kali said, "I'm sorry, Ushas. I'm so sorry."

"You actually do love her, don't you?" Oswin said.

"Of course I do. She's my sister. I'll always love her. That's why I won't let you take her from me," Kali said.

"I wasn't trying to. I don't think anyone or anything could take her from you except for maybe you yourself," Oswin said as she struggled to get off of the wall.

Kali held her head in her hands for a moment as she stood silent in front of Oswin. She knew that Kali was experiencing some kind of mental distress.

"Kali, let me help you. Marissa told me that you were sick. Maybe I could use Dalek science to fix the imbalance in your mind and make you normal again. It's obvious that your mental powers are too much for your mind to take, and it has unbalanced it. Let me try to help you for your sister's sake," Oswin said as she tried to get through to her.

"No one can help me because I've never been normal. I started to go mad long ago when I looked into the Untempered Schism. My powers have only made things worse. It ends for me in only one of two ways. Either I dominate and enslave everyone or someone kills me," Kali said in an extremely sad and weary voice.

"Is that why you're here? Do you want me to kill you?" Oswin asked.

"You? Don't make me laugh. You don't have a chance. I'm here to kill you because you're trying to take her away from me. She's the only one who cares about me, and you're trying to steal her. I won't let you take away the one good thing in my life that I have left. I'll rip you apart first!" Kali said.

She started tearing apart the Console Room with her powers and throwing huge pieces of it at Oswin. Normally Oswin probably could have dodged all of them if it weren't for the fact that Kali was also using her telekinesis to keep her pinned against the wall at the same time. She had to admire the incredible power that Kali had even as she could see her impending death rapidly approaching her.

Oswin quickly used her temporal shift to escape and appeared directly behind Kali just as she would have been flattened. Before Kali react, Oswin used her temporal shift again to take both of them out of the TARDIS. The two of them arrived on Skaro where they were quickly surrounded by an army of hundreds of Daleks.

"PROTECT THE EMPRESS! EXTERMINATE THE ENEMY!" the Daleks chanted as they began to fire on Kali.

"Insects!" Kali shouted as she used her telekinetic power to push all of the Daleks around her away from her in one massive shove that sent them all flying hundreds of feet away from her.

"You can throw every Dalek on Skaro against me, but it won't do you any good. I won't stop until I rip you apart. Prepare to make your peace with whoever or whatever you believe in. Good bye!" Kali said as she used her power to rip Oswin's belt and gauntlets off of her and throw them several feet away.

Oswin knew that she was completely defenseless now. Kali had just taken away her last chance to survive.

"Your sister wouldn't want this. Do you really want to hurt her this way?" Oswin said as she began backing away from her.

"She will thank me for it later when she realizes what you were trying to do. This is what I will do to anyone who tries to come between us. Now you will pay the ultimate price for your actions," Kali said.

A huge force of Daleks assaulted Kali as they desperately tried to save Oswin. She pushed them all away from her as easily as she did the others. A massive wave of telekinetic power threw them away from her, and they all screamed in surprise and outrage as they went flying backwards from her in all directions.

"No one will save you now. It's over. Accept that. Stop trying to fight me, and I promise that I will make your death as painless as possible. I'm only correcting a mistake in the timestream anyway. You're not supposed to be here. You should have been erased long ago. I'm only fixing that error," Kali said in an almost compassionate voice.

"So that's supposed to make me feel good about you killing me?" Oswin asked as she continued to slowly back away from her.

"I don't care how you feel. It ends now!" Kali said as she used her power to squeeze Oswin's windpipe together so that she couldn't breathe.

Oswin struggled to breathe even as she fell to her knees. She began to see scenes of her life played out in front of her and could only smile. It hadn't been such a bad one, had it? Maybe Kali was right. Maybe it was time.

Oswin passed out and slumped to the ground even as Kali continued to deny her oxygen. The renegade Time Lord actually looked sad for a moment as she said, "I'm sorry."

Then her anger quickly returned, and she began to smile as she could feel Oswin's heart stop beating even as she checked her pulse. She had won. The treacherous woman was dead at last.

"Your Empress is dead, Daleks. That is the fate of anyone who tries to take from me what is mine," Kali said as she began to walk away from Oswin's lifeless body.

"EXTERMINATE HER! THE EMPRESS MUST BE AVENGED!" a huge army of Daleks from all around Skaro chanted in unison.

"Do you think that I'm afraid of you? I'll destroy this entire planet if I have to!" Kali shouted as she began to fight back against them and violently shoved them away from her as well.

"YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID OF ME!" Dalek Epsilon shouted as he suddenly appeared behind her and blasted her in the back.

Kali fell to the ground in pain, but quickly got back up again as she laughed. She used her mind control power to attempt to take control of Dalek Epsilon but found to her amazement that it wouldn't work!

"Your will is strong. There are very few people who can resist me. I'm impressed. I'm still going to kill you though," Kali said.

"NO. YOU WILL DIE. YOU KILLED MY EMPRESS. MY FRIEND," Epsilon said as he began firing every weapon in his casing at her as he darted in and out of all of her attacks by using his temporal shift abilities.

"You're very good, Dalek. I have to admit that you're almost a worthy opponent for me. Almost isn't good enough though. All I have to do is get lucky once," Kali said.

"SO DO I," Dalek Epsilon said as he suddenly appeared behind Kali at the same time as Dalek Omega appeared in front of her. Both of them blasted her simultaneously, and she crumpled to the ground with a scream of pain.

"SOMEHOW SHE IS STILL ALIVE," Dalek Omega said.

"SHE HAS A TELEKINETIC FORCE FIELD THAT ABSORBED MOST OF THE BLAST. SHE'S COMPLETELY HELPLESS NOW THOUGH. EXTERMINATE HER," Dalek Epsilon ordered.

Kali suddenly came back to life and started to use her powers to squeeze the two Daleks inside of their casings. They both screamed as they felt as if they were being crushed. They could already feel their bodies being pushed past their limits and knew that it was only a matter of moments before Kali would rip them apart.

Then to everyone's surprise, Oswin suddenly appeared out of nowhere and touched Kali on the forehead. Kali screamed as she could feel her lifeforce being sucked out of her.

"I can bring life, but I can also bring death," Oswin said.

It was Kali's turn to fall to her knees now as she became weaker and weaker by the moment. She collapsed on the ground as she whispered, "Forgive me, Ushas."

"Is this really what you want?" Oswin asked.

"What are you? You're not the same woman as before. You feel different somehow," Kali said in a weak voice.

"You're right. I'm not the same. When you killed me, it triggered the release of my hidden powers. Now I am reborn. I finally know what I'm still doing here in this universe. I know why Rose saved me. It was because I have a purpose, Kali. I'm not a mistake, and I'm much more than an anomaly. I know who I am now. I am a Guardian of Time. I have the power of life and death in my hands. I didn't just get those powers from the Scythe of Anubis. I had them all along. The Scythe only awakened them. Right now I have the power to finally end all of this forever," Oswin said.

"Please don't. Please don't kill her," Marissa pleaded as she came running up behind Oswin.

"She killed me. She tried to kill everyone on our ship and every Dalek on this planet," Oswin said.

"I know. I know all of that is true, but she's still my sister. Please don't kill her. I'm asking you as a sister, please let her live," Marissa pleaded.

Oswin smiled at her as she said, "I was never going to kill her. I haven't changed that much, Mari. I meant that I'm going to fix her mind if I can. I have no idea what I can do now, but I was going to at least try."

Before Oswin could even attempt it though, Kali disappeared right in front of her eyes. An image of the Black Guardian appeared in her place as she said, "I was hoping that Kali could wipe you out before you could find out the truth about yourself. I should have known though. You're just as annoying as Rose Tyler and just as hard to kill. No wonder she likes you so much. You're both two of a kind."

"Thank you," Oswin said with a grin.

"That was not a compliment," the Black Guardian grumbled.

"I chose to take it as one though," Oswin said happily.

"It doesn't matter whether you're a new Guardian or not. I will still dance on all of your graves in the end. I will destroy Ishtar and all of her little puppets soon including you," the Black Guardian said as she vanished.

Dalek Epsilon and Omega swiftly surrounded Oswin in excitement as Epsilon said, "YOU'RE ALIVE. I THOUGHT I HAD LOST YOU."

"You don't get rid of me that easily, Eppy," Oswin said as she kissed the top of his casing.

"So you're alright?" Marissa said as she looked at her in amazement.

"I'm better than alright. I've never felt so good in my life. I still have no idea exactly what role I'm supposed to play in the universe or what I can do exactly, but I'm sure it's going to be fun finding out," Oswin said.

"I heard you say that you were a Guardian. How do you know that?" Marissa asked.

"I don't know how I know exactly. I just do. When I came back to life, I just knew that's all," Oswin said.

"You know maybe I was wrong. Maybe I should stick around and give dating you another shot. I've never dated a major universal entity before," John Harkness said.

"I'm not an entity. I'm just an ordinary girl with powers that I don't yet understand, and I'm still not interested," Oswin said as she corrected him.

John looked disappointed for a moment, but then he started to smile again. Oswin could tell that he hadn't given up on her yet. She could see that he was going to be trouble. Apparently he didn't know how to take no for an answer.

"There was never anything ordinary about you, Oswin. It seems to me that something about your life has always been special starting from the day that leaf first brought your parents together," Marissa said.

That was when Mira appeared racing towards them shouting, "Davros is dead. His life support was turned off."

Oswin looked at her with guilt as she said, "I'm so sorry. It must have been switched off when I died."

"You died?" Mira asked in surprise.

"Yeah but I got better. Weird things like that seem to happen a lot since I first met the Doctor," Oswin said.

"Is there anything that you can do for Davros?" Mira asked.

"He's alright now. He has been since you told me," Oswin said.

"What?" Mira said.

"Go back to the TARDIS. You'll see," Oswin said with a smile.

Mira raced back to discover that Davros was instead alive again.

"What happened?" Mira asked as she hugged Davros.

"I honestly don't know. Everything faded to black, and then I was suddenly alive once again. I heard Oswin's voice apologizing to me in my mind," Davros said.

"She seems to have some kind of new powers. Somehow she fixed you without being anywhere around you," Mira said.

"Interesting," Davros said with a sinister gleam in his eyes.

"Don't even think about it. If it wasn't for her, you'd still be dead. If I catch you trying to do anything against her, I'll knock you out cold!" Mira said firmly.

Davros looked at her in shock. She had never spoken to him this way before.

"I'm going to reform you, brother. You're going to be the person that you used to be again someday whether you like it or not," Mira said with a grin.

"You've changed," Davros said.

"That's right. For the better I think. I don't want you to be trapped with Oswin forever. I'm going to reform you so that both of you will be freed from each other. That's going to be my life's goal from now on," Mira said.

Oswin and Marissa came back to the TARDIS just at the end of this little exchange, and both of them smiled at one another. They would hate to be in Davros' place right now. They had a feeling that Mira was only getting started with him. No more Miss Nice Girl.

"So where to now?" Oswin asked.

"I suppose we should go back to the school and pick up Janine. I think maybe you need to go talk to Rose about what just happened anyway," Marissa said.

As soon as they arrived at the school, Ace ran up to them and said to Oswin, "Mum said for you not to go anywhere once you pick up the munchkin. She wants to talk to you before you leave. She had me here for what seems like forever watching for you to arrive. I'm so glad that you finally showed up. Now I can finally get out of here. Alex is driving me nuts."

"What's he been doing now?" Oswin asked with a grin.

"He keeps calling me his girlfriend ever since your friend with the big mouth made that little comment in class. He also keeps trying to hug me and worse," Ace said as she fumed.

"Worse? What do you mean by worse?" Oswin asked.

"He tried to kiss me! I made him regret that right away though," Ace said with an evil grin on her face.

"What did you do?" Oswin demanded.

Ace pointed to the doorway of the school where Alex stood with his clothes all ripped and torn and his hair all over the place. He stared at them with a dazed expression on his face as he tried to walk over to them, but he quickly fell over and hit the ground unconscious with a resounding thud before he could walk a step.

"I blew him up," Ace said proudly.

"Ace!" Oswin and Marissa both said in shock.

"It was just a little explosion. It's not life threatening or anything. That'll teach him to try to kiss or hug me in the future. I don't do hugs and kisses!" Ace said with an angry expression.

"I've seen Rose kiss you on the forehead or the cheek several times," Oswin pointed out.

"That's different," Ace said.

"Why?" Oswin asked.

"She's my Mum," Ace said as if that was self-explanatory.

"Oswin, we have a lot to talk about," Rose said as she suddenly appeared in the doorway.

Then she looked at the unconscious body of Alex lying on the sidewalk, and she glared at Ace as she said, "I'll talk to you later. I thought I told you no more blowing people up!"

"Aw, Mum! It was just a little explosion!" Ace protested.

Oswin tried not to laugh as she said, "Let's go inside and talk, Rose. You can ground Ace later."

**Next: Oswin and Rose talk about what just happened. Exactly what has Oswin become? Is she really a Guardian?**


	29. The Three Claras Part 1

CHAPTER 29

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

THE THREE CLARAS PART 1

As Oswin and Rose went inside to talk alone, Janine came running up to Ace as she asked, "So what did Rose want with Oswin? I'm dying to know. Hey, what happened to Alex?"

"He had an accident," Ace said as if it was no big deal.

Janine shook her head as she said, "Why don't you just admit that you like that boy and get it over with?"

"Do you want me to show you what happened to Alex?" Ace threatened.

"You never would, and we both know it. You like me too much," Janine said with a confident grin on her face.

Ace smiled at her as she said, "Yeah, you're right, Munchkin. I don't blow up people I like. See? That proves I don't like Alex in any way, shape, or form."

"Unless you're blowing him up because you're in denial about how much you like him," Janine teased her.

"Don't press your luck, Munchkin," Ace said with a dark look on her face that quickly turned into a smile.

She tried to act tough around Janine, but she just couldn't. She liked the kid too much to ever really threaten her. She was starting to think of her as her kid sister, and she knew that Janine felt the same way about her. She almost made having to go to school again tolerable. Her and getting to blow up that annoying brat, Alex. That was always fun!

She looked back at where her mother and Oswin were about to talk to one another, and she couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about. She was tempted to use her powers to spy on them, but she was sure that her Mum would kill her for it if she caught her.

Still it wouldn't hurt if she just listened to them a little bit, right? Janine had asked her about it after all.

"Rose, what's happening to me? Am I a Guardian or not? I need to know," Oswin said as she cut to the chase immediately once she and Rose were alone together.

Rose gave her a reassuring smile to start with so that she could let her see that she had nothing to worry about as she said, "Yes, Oswin. You are a Guardian. You're been slowly developing your powers a little bit at a time. The Scythe of Anubis taking you over is what triggered them to finally start coming out. Your power is the same is its power was actually. You have complete control over life and death."

"Why is this happening to me though? I don't understand. I thought that you made sure that the universe didn't need the Guardians anymore by rewriting it to take them out of it. Which Guardian am I anyway?" Oswin said as she suddenly started assaulting Rose with questions.

"Whoa! Slow down!" Rose said with a huge grin on her face.

"Sorry. I'm kind of upset about this. I don't really want to be a Guardian. I'm just getting used to being the Empress of the Daleks. That's going to take up enough of my time I think without a bunch of new responsibilities that I never even asked for being added on. Can't you undo this?" Oswin asked.

"No, I can't. I wish I could. I did take the old Guardians out of the natural order of the universe forever, and I thought that was the end of it. It seems like the universe had other plans though. It seems to still need someone to fill their spot in the food chain. Apparently, it's picked you. It's probably because you're an anomaly. You're not a part of this universe so you could already do things that were impossible for anyone else to do. You've always been the Impossible Girl, Clara, and now you're about to start living up to that name more than ever before. I have a sort of connection to the universe that's hard to explain because of what I am, and I've been getting the feeling more and more lately that the universe always wanted you to be someone special from the day that you were born. It gave one of the greatest powers that it had to you because it knew that it could trust you with it. You are the Gold Guardian, Oswin. You're the Guardian of Life. Why do you think that you've always been so close to children? Children are the symbol of life, and you've always guarded over and protected them. It's just part of who you are," Rose said.

"Does that mean that there is a Guardian of Death then? Like there's a Black Guardian for the White Guardian?" Oswin asked.

"That's a good question. I wish I knew the answer to it. I certainly hope not. I don't even want to think about how powerful they would be or what they would do," Rose said with a shudder.

"What exactly does the Guardian of Life do? Are other Guardians going to start popping up now?" Oswin asked.

Rose grinned as she said, "I might be the Bad Wolf, but I don't know everything, Oswin. I can't answer either of those questions. I guess you should just keep doing what you're been doing. If you're supposed to do anything else, maybe you'll be given some kind of hint about it somehow. Sorry that I'm not more help."

"It's okay, Rose. I understand. You're just as much in the dark as I am more or less," Oswin said.

"Yeah, I am. I just get little visions of the future sometimes or certain feelings about things, but I'm not a god. I really wish that I could tell you more, Oswin. I get the feeling that whatever you're supposed to be doing in the future though it's something good," Rose said.

"I just wish it wasn't me that had to do it. I don't want any of this. I just want to be Clara. Now someone else is Clara. Not just her but May too. Why are there three of me running around? What's so special about me that the universe needs so many of me?" Oswin asked.

"I honestly don't know. I saved you from being erased from time when I changed the timeline because of what you did to help the Doctor. I didn't want you to be destroyed because you were willing to give up so much for him. My thinking was that the universe always needed more good people like you in it. Now I'm starting to wonder if I was only able to do that because the universe already had plans for you that I had no idea about. Maybe it does for May and Clara too. You know the three of you should really meet each other and see what happens. Maybe it might answer some questions for you," Rose suggested.

"Either that or we'll get on each other's nerves and kill each other! That would be one way of solving the problem of too many Claras, wouldn't it?" Oswin said with a grin.

"Stop that, Oswin! I'm sure the three of you will get along just fine," Rose said.

"Oh, yeah? Like the Doctor gets along just fine with his other selves you mean?" Oswin asked.

"That's different though. The Doctor's always been an oversized child, and you haven't," Rose said with a giggle.

"I like the other Clara so that shouldn't be a problem. It's May that I'm worried about. She doesn't seem to like me at all," Oswin admitted.

"It's just because seeing you reminds her that she's not who she always thought that she was. That makes her upset because she doesn't want to open her fob watch and become Cydonia again. She wants to stay human. I don't think that she has anything against you personally," Rose said.

At least she's become her own person more or less. I can see why she doesn't want to give that up. I feel like a copy of Clara sometimes even though I'm the original. Ever since I found out about her, I've felt like I was just some inferior version of her that got replaced by a much better model. Until today that is. Now I don't know what to think," Oswin admitted with a sad look on her face.

Rose immediately hugged her as she said, "There's nothing inferior about you, Oswin. Nothing at all whatsoever!"

"Thanks. I guess I just want to know what's going on. What's my purpose? It's part of the reason that I became the Empress. I wanted my existence to mean something, Rose," Oswin said.

"It does, Oswin. I know it does. We just don't know exactly what yet. I don't really believe in fate or destiny though so maybe your life is just whatever you want to make of it," Rose said.

"You've always spat in the face of destiny, haven't you?" Oswin asked.

"Yep, at every chance I get," Rose said.

"Maybe I should be the same way. I was recently told that I was just like you after all," Oswin said.

"The Black Guardian?" Rose asked.

"Yes, how did you know?" Oswin asked.

"It sounds like her," Rose said.

"Do you finally know who she is now?" Oswin asked in surprise.

"I have a suspicion. I just hope I'm wrong about it," Rose said.

"She's that bad, huh?" Oswin asked.

"She could be if she's who I think she is, yeah," Rose admitted.

Suddenly Rose looked out beyond the room as if she could sense something that Oswin couldn't. She became very angry as she shouted, "Dorothy!"

Ace quickly stopped spying on them as she said, "Munchkin, will you stay with me as long as you can?"

"Yeah, sure. Why?" Janine asked.

"Mum will be less likely to kill me if you're around," Ace said with a shiver.

"What have you done now?" Janine asked with a grin.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. You tell her that too if she asks," Ace said.

"You're such a bad influence on me! I can't help but love you to pieces though anyway," Janine said with a chuckle.

"Same here, Munchkin," Ace said as she smiled at her.

"Poor old Ace! She's always getting into trouble. She's really a good kid though at heart," Oswin said to Rose.

"I know. That's why I always try to be as lenient as I can with her. I don't want to let her walk all over me either though. She might become just like me at that age," Rose said.

"Worse things could happen. She could become like the Doctor," Oswin joked.

"That's true," Rose said as she laughed.

"Do you think that you could bring Clara and May here? I think that I should see them just like you said," Oswin said.

"You've got it," Rose said with a mischievous grin as her eyes glowed with golden energy for a moment.

Moments later, Clara Oswald and May Rutledge suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Clara still had an apron on and had a pan with a soufflé in it in her hand. She immediately looked at Rose with an angry expression on her face. May meanwhile was still wearing her pajamas, and her hair hadn't even been combed yet. She had obviously still been in bed when Rose brought her.

"I was trying to make a soufflé, Rose! I think that I actually had it right this time. Can't you at least ask me before you do something like that?" Clara said with a groan.

"I was asleep! Do you have any idea what it's like to be having a peaceful dream about being on the beach and then to suddenly be here wherever here is? You're lucky that you didn't give me a heart attack!

"I'm so sorry. Oswin wanted to see both of you, and I just brought you both here without thinking about it. I won't ever do that again I promise," Rose said as she tried to keep from laughing.

"Yeah, I bet! You think it's funny, don't you? Admit it!" Clara said.

"A little bit, yeah," Rose said as she continued to do her best not to laugh.

"I had nothing to do with what she did. I just told her to bring you here. I never meant like this," Oswin apologized.

"I know it's not you. It's her. She has such a silly sense of humor," Clara said.

"Yeah, she does. She used to love playing jokes on us back on . . . ," May said with a smile on her face before suddenly stopping in mid-sentence.

"Gallifrey?" Clara finished for her.

"Yeah," May said in a sad voice.

"Hi, I'm Clara. We've met before, but you probably won't remember. Rose told me who you used to be," Clara said as she held out her hand to her.

"I do remember bits and pieces about you actually. We used to talk together a lot I remember. I remember one time in particular. It was something about the Doctor trying to fix a house that was in really, really bad shape. I don't remember what happened though," May said as she shook Clara's hand.

"I'll tell you about it sometime. You'll love it," Clara said with a chuckle.

"I'd like to hear that too later, but for now I just thought that I'd get to know both of you better and maybe let you get to know me," Oswin said.

"I'll just go ahead and leave so you three can have some privacy. I have a daughter to punish anyway. See you later, Claras," Rose said with a grin as she disappeared in a burst of golden energy.

"Wait a minute! How am I supposed to get back? I don't even know where I am!" May protested.

"Don't worry about it, May. I'll take you back if I have to or I'll get my friend Marissa to do it. The same goes for you, Clara. I just wanted to talk to you two because something really big happened to me lately. I'm not quite sure how to handle it or what it means for me or us," Oswin said.

"What do you mean?" Clara asked.

Oswin explained what had just happened to her during her fight with Kali, and how she was now supposed to be the Guardian of Life. Both of her other selves looked at her in shock and said nothing.

"It makes me wonder if maybe I'm a Guardian too," Clara said without thinking.

"I hope not. I'm terrified of this whole thing. I wouldn't want to wish that on you or May. I just brought you here to have someone to talk to about this whole thing. Someone who could understand what I'm feeling right now," Oswin said.

"You said that you felt like a copy of me. I feel like a copy of you. I feel like just some last minute replacement that the universe came up with because Rose changed the timeline and took you out of it. I also feel like I'm really inadequate compared to you. I mean you're like the Queen of the bloody Daleks! Now you're like some kind of god or something too on top of that. What have I done to compare to that? Talk about an inferiority complex," Clara complained.

"You saved the Doctor. That's nothing to sneeze at," Oswin said.

"Yeah but I just did the same thing that you did originally. It's like I'm a copy just going through the motions. I feel like I'm not my own person at all but just a third rate version of you," Clara said.

"You feel third rate? What about me? I used to think that I was unique and special. Now I find out I'm a copy of someone else, and I've never been anything but that. Now that person says that she feels like a copy? That makes me feel even worse. I feel like I'm worse than nothing," May said in an upset voice.

Oswin immediately saw why she had been so angry with her, and she went to embrace her immediately. She tried to comfort her as she said, "No, you're not. You're just feeling the same kind of feelings that both of us have been having. It does make you feel like less of a person to have two other versions of yourself running around out there. It's not true about any of us, but it does make you feel that way whether it makes sense or not. I didn't know that the two of you felt that way too. I see why Rose told me to do this now, and I'm glad that she did. We did need to talk about this."

"So this was Rose's idea, huh?" Clara asked with an angry look.

"Yeah, she suggested it," Oswin admitted.

"I thought so. I'll get her back for this when she least expects it. Maybe I'll put a little something extra on her chips when she isn't looking some time," Clara said with an evil grin on her face.

"Maybe you could cook her an extra special soufflé later on," May suggested.

"That should make her regret what she's done for sure," Oswin said with a giggle.

All three of them laughed because they all knew how bad they were at making soufflés. Not that it had ever stopped them from trying before.

Suddenly Ishtar appeared before all three of them and said, "I have a mission that I need your help on."

"Me?" Oswin asked.

"No. All three of you. I think this one is going to need all of you to pull it off. Come on," Ishtar said.

"Wait a minute! Can't I at least get dressed and comb my hair first?" May complained.

"You'll be fine. Amy's first trip in the TARDIS was in her nightie, and she survived," Ishtar said as she snapped her fingers.

The three of them immediately disappeared, and Ishtar grinned to herself. She had a feeling that she had an extra special soufflé waiting for her in her future too.

**Next: The adventure continues as the three different versions of Clara must work together to save the universe. They may just discover what makes them all special along the way as well.**


End file.
